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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27909103">Tasteless Nudes</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClothesBeam/pseuds/ClothesBeam'>ClothesBeam</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Uniting [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Persona 5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dom/sub, Long-Distance Relationship, M/M, Multi, Mutual Masturbation, Nude Modeling, Phone Sex, References to Akira/Goro/Ryuji, Ryuji/Akira's Succubus, Voice Kink, Voyeurism, eventually, how do i even tag</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:41:56</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,713</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27909103</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClothesBeam/pseuds/ClothesBeam</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Ryuji is on year three of a long distance relationship with Akira that feels like it’s slowly breaking down. He decides sending more pictures could help spice things up again, or at least provide another avenue for communication when his partner doesn’t feel like talking.</p><p>But it doesn’t take long for Yusuke to find out how awful the composition of his photos are. And then Ann finds out how awful his modelling is.</p><p>Before Ryuji knows it, he’s got a little “art project” on his hands.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kurusu Akira/Sakamoto Ryuji, Persona 5 Protagonist/Sakamoto Ryuji</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Uniting [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2123340</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>38</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>125</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Futaba screeched and somehow her phone went flying into the air. Ryuji winced at the piercing noise, and then again as it thudded onto the table in front of him.</p>
<p>Yusuke was sitting next to Futaba in the booth, but he barely glanced up from his sketch. Ryuji guessed all this wasn’t that unusual, but still.</p>
<p>“What’s the matter Futaba-chan?” Ann asked sweetly before taking a sip of her coffee.</p>
<p>“Ryuji! You’ve gotta warn a girl before you send nudes!”</p>
<p>This time Yusuke glanced up for a little longer, brow deeply furrowed.</p>
<p>“If you don’t wanna see, then stop creeping on our texts, dipshit!”</p>
<p>For some stupid reason, in response to that Yusuke picked up Futaba’s phone. He gasped in disgust. “<em>This</em> is how you seduce your significant other? The composition is an eyesore! Not to mention the painfully low image quality.”</p>
<p>Of course <em>that</em> was what had grossed him out. “Oh my god, stop looking you freaks!”</p>
<p>Instead of respecting his demand, Ann simply tugged on Yusuke’s wrist so she could get a glimpse at the screen too. “What the hell is that pose? You can’t just whip it out and expect to look attractive!”</p>
<p>“How have you been in a long distance relationship for over three years when all your partner gets to see of you is this rubbish?” Yusuke demanded, sounding personally offended.</p>
<p>“Akira ain’t ever complained,” Ryuji grumbled, giving up on ever getting them to respect his modesty. They meant well. Probably.</p>
<p>“Well clearly he has simply grown used to accepting this is the best you can do,” Yusuke replied mournfully.</p>
<p>That hit a sore spot. Ryuji knew Akira was keeping himself as busy as ever, but lately the distance between them had felt wider than ever. It wasn’t like he could just pop over to his hometown on a whim to see what was up when he forgot to answer his texts for days, if not weeks, at a time.</p>
<p>“And just what are you sending out, then?” Ryuji demanded hotly.</p>
<p>To his horror, Yusuke closed his eyes and smiled before tapping on Futaba’s phone screen, undoubtedly navigating to something he’d sent her.</p>
<p>“H-hey!” Futaba exclaimed as she snatched it back. “That’s for my eyes only!”</p>
<p>“Don’t you think Akira would be saying that if he was here!?”</p>
<p>Ann took hold of Ryuji’s ear and pulled him closer. “Think of this as a form of revenge for all the times you tried to touch my boobs in high school,” she said dangerously. “Besides, I’m sure Akira will be thanking us for our help soon enough.”</p>
<p>“Indeed,” Yusuke replied, nodding sagely. It seemed the two of them had decided on something without even having to discuss it beforehand.</p>
<p>“W-what’s that supposed to mean?” Ryuji dared to ask.</p>
<p>“We’re coming to your place to do a photoshoot next time your mum does a double shift,” Ann said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I’ll coach you in how to look good for the camera.”</p>
<p>“And I shall be sure to capture you at your best, in the best way possible,” Yusuke vowed like he was swearing to live by the sword. Again.</p>
<p>Ryuji felt his face heat up. “I am not getting naked in front of you weirdoes!”</p>
<p>“With my help, that won’t be necessary,” Ann said as she flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Not that I ever want to see that again.”</p>
<p>“Y’should never’ve seen it the first time!” he spluttered, but all they did was laugh.</p>
<p>Loudly.</p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Ryuji had been determined to ignore all three of them for the rest of his life, but in the end it’d been laughably easy for Ann to fool him into mentioning his mother’s shift pattern for the next week. In fact, all she’d done was ask how his mother was. Of course he couldn’t make himself shut up.</p>
<p>Ryuji squinted in response to Ann turning on the lights she wanted to use for the photoshoot. “How am I s’posed to look sexy if I can’t even see?” he complained. Not that he could bring himself to be risqué when these two were in the room with him.</p>
<p>“You’ll get used to it in a minute,” Ann replied dismissively. She reached into her bag and pulled out a compact and a couple of brushes.</p>
<p>“What is that for?” Ryuji demanded uneasily.</p>
<p>“Evening out your skin tone.”</p>
<p>“I’m not wearing makeup!”</p>
<p>Ann rolled her eyes. “Is it really makeup if it’s just going to blend into the rest of you? Now stay still, I had to guess your shade off the top of my head,” she added as she approached him with a loaded brush.</p>
<p>Ryuji made the terrible mistake of letting her back him into a corner. He moved his head from side to side in an attempt to make things as difficult as possible, but she simply grabbed his jaw and dug her nails in. Resigned to his fate, Ryuji resorted to scowling at her.</p>
<p>Ann hummed happily as she worked. “A perfect guess once again. You can thank me later.”</p>
<p>“Y’know, this might be actually be hot if Akira was here.”</p>
<p>Ann rapped him over the head with the end of her makeup brush before releasing him. He rubbed his head with a grumble.</p>
<p>“Relax, a bit of powder is hardly full coverage,” she said with a roll of her eyes before retreating back behind the lights and screens and whatever else she’d insisted on bringing. Ryuji followed her with his eyes before noticing Yusuke’s was already glued to the viewfinder.</p>
<p>“What the hell are you doing?”</p>
<p>“Akira will find some of these amusing, no?” Yusuke replied. “Now move back to the bed.”</p>
<p>Ryuji rolled his eyes and took a few sauntering steps. “What are you, some wannabe porno director?”</p>
<p>“We don’t have all night.”</p>
<p>Ryuji honestly didn’t know whether Yusuke was egging him on or being as oblivious as ever. He grumbled and flopped onto the end of his bed. He doubted they’d <em>approve</em> of his arms being folded and the frown on his face, but this was all so weird. He didn’t know how Ann did this for a living, even if her shoots weren’t ever this on the nose.</p>
<p>“Now, just relax and think of Akira,” Ann called, clearly having a tough time restraining her giggles. It seemed she’d noticed Yusuke’s questionable phrasing too.</p>
<p>Ryuji jabbed his middle finger up in her direction, but all that did was finally get a proper laugh out of her. Yusuke interrupted once more.</p>
<p>“As entertaining as this is, I don’t think it’s what we’re aiming for. You should provide him with more guidance, Ann.”</p>
<p>“I’m getting there,” she said, flipping a hand in his direction. “First thing’s first, we’ve got to find the angle that emphasises your jaw line most.”</p>
<p>Ryuji just rolled his eyes. He really didn’t think he had the patience for this. Ann gave him an expectant look and he hesitantly looked around the room, tilting his head slightly.</p>
<p>“Oh!” Ann exclaimed suddenly. “Down and to your left a little more.”</p>
<p>“Like this?” he asked, still definitely feeling stupid.</p>
<p>Ann gave him a thumbs up. “Now lean forward with your elbows on your knees and look soulfully at the camera!”</p>
<p>Ryuji swiped a hand over his face before attempting to follow her instructions. It was hard to tell, but Yusuke seemed to be taking pictures still.</p>
<p>Suddenly Ann clapped her hands together. “Hey, why don’t you do that dumb thing where you roll your t-shirt sleeves up? Show them guns!”</p>
<p>“It’s not stupid!” Ryuji complained even as he did as suggested. Ann nodded approvingly before barking out another instruction.</p>
<p>This was going to end up being the longest hour or so of his life, he was sure.</p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>“Ok, I think we should leave it there,” Ann finally, blessedly, said. “I guess this is only your first attempt at modelling,” she added, surprisingly gracious.</p>
<p>Ryuji sighed, happy to finally get up off the bed. Ann switched the lights off, leaving the place relatively dark. Thanks to his blinds, only a few stripes of sunset were managing to make it into the room. Ryuji stretched as he moved over to the window and twisted the blinds open a bit further.</p>
<p>Of course the street below was still busy at this hour. He glanced up at the dusky sky that was still streaked with orange, pausing in the middle of turning back to Ann and Yusuke. He slid a hand under his shirt to scratch at the itch on his stomach, then moved to rub his chest while he was there.</p>
<p>“Oh,” Ann said softly, breaking the silence.</p>
<p>Ryuji glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. Surely she hadn’t decided she was a prude again now of all times.</p>
<p>But she wasn’t looking at him. She was huddled next to Yusuke, looking down at the camera.</p>
<p>“Do I want to know?” Ryuji asked flatly.</p>
<p>“It’s perfect!” Yusuke proclaimed, sounding almost proud. He held the camera out to Ryuji.</p>
<p>Ryuji glanced down at the screen. The photo was of him looking out the window with his hand up his shirt. He looked back up at them disbelievingly. “<em>This</em> is what you were going for?”</p>
<p>“Send it to Akira right now! I want to see his reaction!” Ann insisted. The two of them scrambled to put the camera chip in Ann’s laptop so they could email the high quality version over.</p>
<p>Ryuji rolled his eyes and folded his arms. “He ain’t even home right now. He’ll be on shift until late.”</p>
<p>“Just send it!”</p>
<p>Ryuji heaved a pained sigh as he started a new message.</p>
<p>
  <em>Ann and Yusuke want to be praised for taking this.</em>
</p>
<p>Ann stared at him expectantly. “I told ya, he’s busy now!”</p>
<p>Sometimes it seemed like he was always busy, but he knew Akira had his job to worry about over the weekends. And after having to repeat his second year, and then struggle to tolerate his third year only for it to end in not a single offer from any of the universities he’d applied to in Tokyo, he was studying his ass off in an attempt to not fuck the entrance exams up again. His words, not Ryuji’s.</p>
<p>As long as Akira made it back to Tokyo, Ryuji knew they’d be able to figure the rest out. He had finished his apprenticeship now, after all. But no matter how frustrating it could be, he knew Akira wasn’t one to mooch.</p>
<p>Ann pouted when he continued being standoffish. “Fine, but I want screenshots of it later!”</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah,” Ryuji muttered noncommittally as he helped her to start taking down the lights and screen things. It was all pretty dumb when their favourite photo hadn’t even needed all this crap, wasn’t it? But he didn’t think telling Ann that now would be very wise.</p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Akira silently closed the front door behind him and carefully made his way to his bedroom without turning on the lights. His parents had been complaining about being woken up in the middle of the night more often lately. But when this was the closest thing to Phantom Thievery he’d done in years, it probably wasn’t too much of a surprise that he was losing his edge.</p>
<p>It still grated a little.</p>
<p>Akira changed out of his eyesore of a fast food uniform and into his pyjamas before getting in bed and finally turning his phone back on. He smiled wryly when he was immediately flooded by messages he didn’t have the energy to deal with, but it became more sincere when he saw one of them was from Ryuji. Naturally he opened it up first.</p>
<p>Akira’s expression became more bemused as he read it. Had Ann and Yusuke caught Ryuji doing something dumb, and then forced him to share it with the world? But as the picture loaded up, Akira quickly realised it wasn’t anything like that at all.</p>
<p>He couldn’t see Ryuji’s face because he was gazing out the window, but everything from the location to his relaxed posture was so him it would be impossible not to recognise him. The orange tinged light and dark shadows highlighted and accentuated every lean muscle and tendon. And when he could see this much of his arms and stomach, there was a lot to appreciate.</p>
<p>Of course Akira didn’t have a problem with the things Ryuji normally sent him. His own attempts were hardly anything to write home about, after all, even if according Ryuji it served its purpose. But for the moment, Akira was definitely thankful for what had probably been Yusuke’s genius.</p>
<p>The aesthetic was probably atypical, but for him it was perfection.</p>
<p><em>Nice abs</em>, Akira typed as he promised himself he’d muster up the energy to send something more substantial in the morning.</p>
<p>Whether he ended up passing his next attempt at entrance exams or not, he’d set himself a hard deadline to be back in Tokyo before the end of the year. He’d already made Ryuji wait too long, and while living rent free with his parents was the less stressful option, he had to get his shit back together.</p>
<p>Being forced to repeat an entire year after spending the large majority of his third semester in juvie for something he’d eventually been acquitted of had been the kick in the guts that had made him crumple. Trying to go back to his normal pre-Thieves life after everything had been impossible, but it was really the only option he’d had. It was probably no surprise he was flagging.</p>
<p>But he had to become someone Ryuji, and the others, could rely on again.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ryuji stuck his tongue out as he carefully climbed another rung on the ladder, ascending further into the ceiling. He ran a finger over the electrical wires that seemed to be the problem. Of course his boss would never let him come up here without turning everything off first, so it wasn’t live, but after doing something stupid early in his apprenticeship he knew he wouldn’t have anything to worry about even if it was.</p><p>They’d been told the metaverse was gone now, but it seemed his resistance to electricity wasn’t. He wondered if it went the other way too. Might be nice to fry an electronic device that idiot in payroll owned sometime.</p><p>“Aha,” Ryuji muttered to himself when he thought he’d located the problem. He quickly and efficiently replaced the fried part.</p><p>He didn’t want to be late for his lunch break. Akira had told him to call today, and honestly, that was way more than he’d been expecting to get out of yesterday’s shenanigans.</p><p>Of course he’d never let Ann or Yusuke think they’d been right about anything.</p><p>Ryuji backed down the ladder again when he was done. The office workers still sitting at the other end of the floor gave him a strange look, but soon returned to their tasks. He guessed keeping his hair bleached stopped him from fitting into this kind of environment too. But at least, unlike school, he’d had a little more choice about the kind of work he did.</p><p>Once his colleague had run a test and they could see everything was indeed working how it was supposed to be, they were able to get out of there. They only had one more job at an apartment building in the afternoon, so they could take a bit of extra time on their breaks.</p><p>Ryuji grabbed something from a convenience store before taking it to a nearby park. Kind of weird, but he got the feeling he wasn’t going to want to have this conversation where his co-workers could hear it.</p><p>He unlocked his phone and saw he had a message from Ann. <em>Send me a pic of you right now.</em></p><p>If it was from anyone else, except maybe Yusuke, he’d trash her out for being a weird stalker. As it was, he put his middle finger up and took a picture of himself squinting in the sunlight.</p><p>
  <em>Stop sending me weird fucking messages.</em>
</p><p><em>They’re fucking weird messages, thank you.</em> Ryuji sighed. <em>That aside, your work uniform is an excellent idea for next time.</em></p><p>Next time? Geez. Ryuji ignored her for now, realising his time to talk with Akira was quickly ticking away. He dialled him and then started unwrapping his lunch.</p><p>For a few seconds he worried it was just going to ring through, but then it suddenly picked up. “Hey,” Akira said, “Just give me a second.”</p><p>Ryuji made a sound of acknowledgement. He knew it was better not to interrupt when he was in the middle of thinking about something deeply. As promised, a moment later Akira gave a small sigh.</p><p>“All good?” Ryuji teased.</p><p>Akira hummed in agreement. “Yep, just a study day today.” Ryuji got the impression he wasn’t done talking, so he waited. “Um, I liked your picture. Yusuke’s got a good eye for light and framing, huh?”</p><p>Ryuji snorted. “At the time I thought they were done taking photos. Ann brought all this crazy professional equipment and was packing it up, so I thought I’d let some natural light in while there was still some left. Yusuke stealthed that one.”</p><p>Akira was silent for a moment. “Wait, are you saying there’s more pictures?” he asked, deadpan as ever.</p><p>“They’re probably all stupid. I can’t fake it like Ann does.”</p><p>“Well, I like the not ‘fake’ one well enough,” Akira replied, and Ryuji felt some satisfaction and heat at the thought of someone else, specifically his boyfriend, finding him appealing. “But I did have something else I wanted to talk about, if you have time.”</p><p>Ryuji took his phone away from his ear for a moment and glanced at the time. “Yeah, should be fine. What’s up?”</p><p>“I want to apologise for being shitty lately,” he said quietly. “I’m not trying to ignore you. I’m just so tired all the time. And dealing with assholes all day at work is just…” He quickly changed tone. “Well, I shouldn’t be making excuses. But I really am sorry.”</p><p>Part of him wanted to tell Akira not to worry about it, but he had hurt his feelings. It was probably better to clear the air while he had his attention.</p><p>“It kind of sucks when you don’t answer me at all, but I get that feeling drained and tired all the time can make that hard. Can you maybe just reply that you don’t feel up to human interaction instead of leaving me hanging until you are?”</p><p>“I can try. You mean just like a text, or?”</p><p>“Yeah man, whatever’s easiest. If words are too hard, I’ll just send you pictures.”</p><p>“Ok,” Akira replied quietly. “I think I can do that. Maybe send some of my own too.”</p><p>Ryuji smiled softly then blurted, “I miss you so much.” He took a deep breath and quickly continued. “Hurry up and come back. Even if you fail out of every uni in the city, you know Haru would make sure you’re the best paid barista in Tokyo.”</p><p>“I miss you too,” Akira replied softly. “But for the love of god, please don’t egg her on.”</p><p>“That bad, huh?”</p><p>“She’s already tried giving me an apartment and an investment portfolio.”</p><p>Ryuji laughed as he glanced at his phone again and saw their time was running out. He’d have to thank Haru for trying so hard later. “Well, I should get going soon. Call me tonight if you want.”</p><p>“I will, if I don’t fall asleep first.”</p><p>“Then just make sure you get your rest,” Ryuji teased. “See you soon?”</p><p>“Yeah,” Akira replied, and Ryuji thought he could hear the smile this time.</p><p>He looked back down at his phone as he hung up, then decided to open the message thread with Ann back up. If Akira was going to respond positively to this stuff, maybe it was worth tolerating the other two for a bit longer.</p><p>
  <em>Yeah, coveralls, so hott. When is next time?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yusuke says Thursday night? Make sure you roll those sleeves up a bit more so Akira can see your forearms ;)</em>
</p><p>Ryuji rolled his eyes and shoved the rest of his lunch in his mouth. <em>Ok, fine. But you’re enjoying this way too much.</em></p><p>
  <em>:))))</em>
</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Ryuji knew settling on his back on the couch after another long day at work could be a mistake, but he needed to muster up the willpower to go find something to eat somehow. His mum would be at least another two or three hours since she was on evenings, as usual. So as long as he got around to it before then, it didn’t really matter.</p><p>Ryuji thought back to the conversation he’d had with Akira yesterday. It’d been so long since he’d heard his voice, which was a shame not only because he missed him, but also because he had a very nice voice. Especially when he’d come down to Tokyo at New Year’s and leaned over him from behind to pin him to the mattress and whisper all the dirty things he was about to do to him in his ear…</p><p>He jumped when his phone buzzed in his pocket, a little too close to his slowly stirring dick to be decent. He glanced down at the screen and snorted. It was like Akira had heard him thinking about him.</p><p><em>Phandom is still going strong</em>. He’d attached a picture of what looked suspiciously like a phantom wafer.</p><p>
  <em>Guess they needed to get some more use out of all those old moulds.</em>
</p><p>Ryuji put his phone down while he waited for an answer. He’d turned the aircon on low as soon as he’d gotten back, but this muggy weather really was unbearable. He unbuttoned his coveralls and flapped the bottom of his white t-shirt a few times, trying to get some air circulation. When the next message came through he paused to check it.</p><p>
  <em>Are you home from work?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Yeah. Can I call you?</em>
</p><p>A moment later his phone started ringing. Ryuji smiled as he answered it. “I’ll take that as a ‘yes’.”</p><p>Akira made a soft sound of amusement and it went straight to his guts. “Clearly it’s a ‘no, I’m calling you’.”</p><p>Ryuji felt his hand absently stray over his lower belly, his fingers playing with the waistband of his briefs. He was about to clue Akira into what he was doing when it occurred to him the background noise on the call probably meant he was out somewhere.</p><p>Well, Akira had done plenty of weird things for him before. Maybe he’d be down for this.</p><p>“Hey, I was thinking about what we did last time you came down for my birthday. Am I getting a repeat this year or what?” he tried to joke. He did actually want to know if he should book leave for it or not this year.</p><p>“Oh, you want this to be <em>that</em> kind of phone call, do you?” Akira asked. Ryuji chewed on his bottom lip as his voice deepened with amusement. “Just what exactly were you hoping to get out of this?”</p><p>Ryuji groaned in the back of his throat and suddenly thought his other questions could wait until later. His hand pressed under the elastic band of his underwear and ground over his erection. “You know you could read the newspaper to me and I’d just be sitting here wishing the hand on my dick was yours.”</p><p>To his satisfaction, he could hear he’d made Akira’s breath hitch. “Give me fifteen minutes.” His tone brooked no argument.</p><p>Ryuji decided now was probably a good time to move to his room. He rolled off the couch and awkwardly crossed the main room with his hands down his pants before closing the door behind him. “Hurry up,” he replied before lying on his bed.</p><p>Akira was silent for a moment, but then said even more quietly than before, “Don’t touch yourself until I say you can.”</p><p>Ryuji reluctantly pulled his hand away, twisting it into his coveralls instead. “Akira,” he said quietly, helplessly, but he’d already hung up. Ryuji wondered if there was anything else he could do to make him hurry up.</p><p>He fumbled for his camera app and tried to return enough blood to his brain to think about the logistics of how he was going to do this. He fumbled for his lamp, the dim light improving what the camera was picking up substantially. He glanced at his sleeves and pushed them back above his elbows. Then he checked how the shadows cast by the lamp emphasised his jaw line.</p><p>He held his phone up above him, trying to get himself in frame properly. But before he took a picture, Ryuji remembered Akira’s first comment on the last photo he’d sent, and hiked his shirt up a little more. But still, there was hardly a need for subtlety right now. Ryuji yanked his coveralls and underwear out the way of his flushed dick.</p><p>He snapped a few pictures and sent the one he wasn’t blinking in.</p><p>
  <em>Stop texting me or I’m going to fall off my bike.</em>
</p><p>Ryuji felt himself flush, pleased. The only problem was Akira probably wasn’t going to be home for a bit longer, and the ceiling fan was stirring the air around him. Tantalisingly. Of course Akira wouldn’t know if he didn’t do what he wanted, but that’d just ruin the fun. Ryuji ran a hand through his hair and closed his fist in the longer parts.</p><p>Of course that wasn’t <em>helping</em> his problem, but it was distracting, especially when he pulled a bit. But he soon decided to get the top half of his coveralls off while he still had the brain capacity to do so.</p><p>Ryuji jolted when his phone started ringing again. He had to stab the screen a few times before he managed to answer it. “Akira,” he murmured.</p><p>He heard the rattle of a plastic bag. It sounded like Akira was putting his groceries or whatever away. “Nearly done,” he said softly. “How are you holding up?”</p><p>Ryuji made a choking noise. “What do you fucking think?”</p><p>Akira’s laugh went straight to his dick again, the memory of his mouth and breath at his ear filling the forefront of his mind. “Now, now, don’t make me force you to wait until I’ve finished studying too.”</p><p>“Just hurry up,” Ryuji complained. He wouldn’t say he’d whined, but Akira probably would.</p><p>“I’m in my room now. You can go back to what you were doing,” he teased. “Morgana’s out, don’t worry.”</p><p>Ryuji had started flagging, but he returned to full hardness soon after he closed his free hand around himself. He whimpered softly as he started dragging his hand up and down his length.</p><p>“Do you feel good?” Akira asked softly, but his breaths were slowly increasing in speed. Ryuji could guess why.</p><p>“Other than the fact it’s muggy as fuck, yeah.”</p><p>“That’s what you get for living in the city,” Akira teased. “Rub your thumb over your head,” he said like he didn’t have a single doubt Ryuji would follow his order. But of course he didn’t. “Are you getting wet yet?”</p><p>“A little,” Ryuji muttered as he spread his precome over his cock, easing the friction a bit. “Wish you were here.”</p><p>Akira made a sound of acknowledgement, but Ryuji figured he probably shouldn’t have said that. He didn’t want him to start trying to apologise again in the middle of this.</p><p>“What would you want me to do if I was there?”</p><p>“I dunno. Talk me through what you’d want,” Ryuji replied. Any excuse to make Akira talk more would work, really.</p><p>“So many choices,” Akira said quietly, his smooth voice washing over Ryuji even as his breath hitched subtly every now and then. “You know I like it when I’m down your throat best.”</p><p>Ryuji moaned and licked his lips, feeling his own hand tighten around himself. “Yeah?” he replied as he picked up his pace. He was embarrassingly close already, but it had been a while since they’d done something together like this.</p><p>“When you tighten around me. Especially when you choke,” Akira added darkly.</p><p>“Fuck,” was all Ryuji had to say to that. Akira seemed to find it funny, at least. “I’m gonna come.”</p><p>Akira hummed. “Send me a picture when you’re done.”</p><p>“You really wanna see that?” Ryuji tried to tease even as he lost his breath.</p><p>“Oh, so much,” Akira said, shockingly sincere.</p><p>Ryuji groaned and tensed as he felt himself crest. He made a mess, his come going all over his hand, stomach, and the bottom of his shirt. “A-Akira… I’ve gotta hang up to take a picture.”</p><p>He didn’t think Akira was quite there yet, based on his sharp inhales and heavy exhales. “Please.”</p><p>Ryuji held his phone in his hand precariously, managing to end the call and get his camera back before lifting it up again. His arm was shaky and he didn’t have the brain space to pose again, but somehow he doubted Akira was going to mind that. Ryuji trailed his fingers through the streaks of come on his middle as he took the picture.</p><p>When he got him back on the line again, Akira was groaning. “Holy shit.”</p><p>“That do it for ya?” Ryuji said with a laugh as he tried to figure out the best way to get up and get cleaned up without getting come all over his coveralls as well. His other sets were already in the wash.</p><p>“Absolutely,” Akira replied faintly.</p><p>Ryuji snorted. “Feel free to jack it to it any time.”</p><p>“I guess I’d better give as good as I get,” Akira said mysteriously before hanging up again. A minute later Ryuji got a message.</p><p>It was a shot of Akira in a dim room and an old t-shirt, his hair even more of a mess than usual. He couldn’t see much of his body, but he was in the middle of licking a line of come off one his splayed fingers.</p><p>Ryuji felt his eyes widen comically. Damn it, Akira knew how obsessed with his hands he was.</p><p>
  <em>You sure do.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Naturally.</em>
</p><p>They said their goodnights like he hadn’t just had his mind blown, and Ryuji cautiously got up to shower. There was no way he was ditching out on whatever Ann had in mind now.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Haru banged her pen on the table like it was a gavel, and all the ex-Thieves quickly finished their conversations and sat up a little straighter. Ryuji scratched his head as he looked around at them in confusion. Sure, it’d been a while since he’d talked to Haru, but she wasn’t <em>that</em> bad.</p><p>“The Council for Bringing Akira Back to Tokyo is now in session,” she announced with a straight face, but a giggle burst out of Ann before he could consider taking her seriously.</p><p>“Council? Why the hell haven’t I been a member until now?” Ryuji demanded anyway.</p><p>“We didn’t form officially until today.” Haru’s eyes sharpened suddenly. “We thought you had this under control.”</p><p>Ryuji groaned in defeat and dropped his head into his folded arms. How the hell had they managed to make this his fault?</p><p>“That was harsh,” Ann said as she vigorously rubbed one of his shoulders. With the way his head was lolling around, his brain might just bruise.</p><p>“But I have heard Ann and Yusuke helped you land on something with potential,” Haru continued a little more brightly. “Futaba reports that Akira has been looking at and using his phone more often ever since.”</p><p>Ryuji dropped his head into his palms for a different reason this time. Of course he was. Probably to jerk off.</p><p>But that did kind of stoke his ego a bit. He still got a kick out of being seen as attractive instead of just one-sidedly lusting after someone else.</p><p>“So that’s why she was snooping through our texts.”</p><p>“I had to check up on him somehow, and he wasn’t answering me at all!” Futaba defended herself. “If <em>I </em>sent him nudes he’d never look at his phone again!”</p><p>“Please don’t send Akira nudes,” Yusuke said as he leaned forward to rest on his elbows, face filled with angst.</p><p>“Back at ya,” Futaba teased as she pinched his cheek. It looked like he was a surrogate for Morgana now too.</p><p>“Anyway,” Haru interrupted firmly, “we need to capitalise on this success.”</p><p>“Don’t put it that way, or Akira will tell you to distribute the means of production again,” Makoto said suddenly. Her face was a little pink.</p><p>“Humph, when I tried to he turned it all down,” Haru muttered as she folded her arms. “Besides, how else would we be able to afford to keep Akechi-kun off the grid while still giving him a home?”</p><p>They collectively turned to look toward the couch where said hopefully ex-murderer was surrounded by mountains of paper and typing away on his laptop. He looked up with a frown when the silence continued.</p><p>“Why <em>are</em> you all here?”</p><p>“We can’t talk about this in front of Sojiro!” Futaba exclaimed.</p><p>“I’d prefer it if you didn’t talk about it in front of me,” Akechi retorted dryly.</p><p>“Admit it, you want in on this ‘get Akira back to Tokyo’ thing too,” Ryuji drawled. Annoying Akechi was so much more fun now that he didn’t try to act like he was above them by reverting to his TV personality. The fact he probably wasn’t going to shoot him in the face for it anymore helped too.</p><p>Akechi’s mouth tightened and he looked back at his screen, not deigning that with a response.</p><p>“What are you working on, anyway?” Makoto asked.</p><p>“He’s doing research for my lobbyists,” Haru replied when he didn’t.</p><p>“Ugh, bourgie,” Futaba groaned.</p><p>“No, even worse,” Yusuke replied as he shook his head solemnly.</p><p>Used to their teasing, Haru continued giving her serious response. “We’re hoping to trigger a proper fix for the foster care system in this country.” Akechi avoided meeting any of their eyes. “But anyway, back to the topic at hand,” she added sweetly as she turned to Ryuji. “Maybe if we do things right, we can convince Akira to put his pride aside and follow his dick back to Tokyo.”</p><p>They all started in surprise at her phrasing, but Ann got it the worst. Her eyes watered as she choked on her sip of tea.</p><p>“Oh my god, I’m not a hooker,” Ryuji mumbled miserably, into his palms once again. “At least say he’ll follow his heart back,” he added under his breath.</p><p>Haru shook her head. “I wasn’t suggesting you were. In fact, if you send him things that are titillating instead of explicit, you could arouse his interest without providing him any relief. Then he’d have no choice but to come see you in person.” She folded her arms and smiled, looking proud of herself.</p><p>And a little evil.</p><p>Ryuji sighed. “Doesn’t this sound like a ‘plan’ Ann would come up with?”</p><p>Ann elbowed him sharply, making him wince. “I’ll keep helping you. And we could even turn some of the best shots into a little magazine and send it Akira’s way for his birthday. Maybe that’ll nudge him into coming down for Christmas and New Year.”</p><p>Ryuji rolled his eyes then tried to look anywhere but at Ann. When he glanced in Akechi’s direction, he noticed he was listening with more interest now. But he quickly looked away when their eyes met.</p><p>“All right then, from today we’ll call it Operation Centrefold,” Haru announced.</p><p>The others laughed. Ryuji worried he’d lose his remaining brain cells if he smacked himself in the face any more today.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Ryuji had been so desperate to get away from Ann and Yusuke that he hadn’t even bothered getting changed before fleeing the gym. Ann had already forced him to do inappropriate things to a ladder in his work uniform, but then she’d been inspired to do more at the gym in the evening.</p><p>He was completely exhausted, but both her and Yusuke seemed to be happy with the shots they’d got. He’d left them to talk about editing and whatever else.</p><p>When he got home Ryuji hugged his mother and only groaned tiredly when she asked him how his day had been. She laughed and warmed up dinner for him before moving away to clean up. And probably to avoid his BO.</p><p>He went into the bathroom after she’d gone to bed, and only then did he check his phone to see Akira had sent him a message for the first time in a couple of days.</p><p>
  <em>How’s things?</em>
</p><p>Ryuji snapped a picture of himself in the mirror as he leaned over the sink, eyes having to fight to stay open. He sent it through without further explanation. If their grand plan was supposed to be a secret he figured it was probably better to not say anything.</p><p>
  <em>That bad, huh?</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Eh, just about to have a shower. I have the day off tomorrow.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Good, get some rest.</em>
</p><p>Ryuji smiled then finished getting undressed. He didn’t take long in the shower, since he wouldn’t put it past himself to fall asleep standing up. He was curled up in bed by the time he checked his phone again. The picture Akira had sent him soon woke him up a bit, though.</p><p>He’d foregone his glasses and made an attempt to push his tangled hair out of his face. His button up was loose and casual with the sleeves rolled up and a few buttons undone. His bottoms only consisted of a pair of dark grey briefs, with just a sliver of pale leg showing between the hem of them and the bathroom counter.</p><p>Ryuji sent an eyes emoji, but couldn’t help but feel like something was a little off. Akira was usually a pretty modest guy in public, but he couldn’t help but wonder if he was avoiding sending pictures of his body for a reason. Then again, he was probably just worried Futaba would see it while she was snooping.</p><p><em>Not going to send me anything else?</em> Akira teased.</p><p>
  <em>Already in bed. But Yusuke took these today.</em>
</p><p>He sent the two photos from the gym Ann and Yusuke had allowed him to have a copy of before hoarding the rest for their own purposes. One was of him grinning at the camera like an idiot while he ran on the treadmill. In the other he looked a little more ruffled but intensely focused on the bench presses he was doing under fluorescent lights that seemed to suck the colour out of everything.</p><p>For some reason Yusuke had insisted they had the same vibe as the last picture they’d taken in his room, even though they looked totally different to him.</p><p>
  <em>I didn’t know Ann was trying to get you into modelling.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>If the pictures were going to anyone but you, I wouldn’t be.</em>
</p><p><em>Well aren’t I special? </em>Ryuji laughed under his breath. That should be obvious. <em>Got anything else? </em>As much as he wanted to send something, he’d promised the others he wouldn’t. And he really didn’t want to test Haru’s patience on this.</p><p>He liked his balls where they were.</p><p><em>I’m tired. </em>Maybe changing the topic would be better. <em>The fireworks festival is on in a few weeks. </em>The few weeks after his birthday. Which was very soon.</p><p>
  <em>Are they going to make you wear yukata this year?</em>
</p><p>Ryuji narrowed his eyes. <em>Ugh, probably. I bet that’s why Ann demanded I meet up with her again tomorrow.</em></p><p>
  <em>I want to see.</em>
</p><p>He bit his lip. Maybe it’d be worth the pain of shopping with Ann if they found something Akira liked.</p><p>
  <em>Then keep an eye on your phone tomorrow afternoon.</em>
</p><p><em>Looking forward to it</em>.</p><p>Ryuji was just about to fall asleep when he received one last message.</p><p>
  <em>If your present arrives early, don’t open it until your birthday.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I’ll think about it.</em>
</p><p>There was a pause before his reply came through. <em>Hope you have a good day. I’ll be there next year for sure.</em></p><p>
  <em>I’ll hold you to that!</em>
</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Akira sighed and put his phone down. He couldn’t tell if Ryuji was upset with him, or he legitimately was just too tired. It’d be a first if that’s all it was, but he didn’t know what Ann had convinced him to do for the sake of whatever this photography thing was.</p><p>But he supposed he’d made Ryuji feel like this way too many times over the years. He got the feeling it was something they’d struggle with even if they did live under the same roof. Ryuji’s libido could be… a lot.</p><p>But that was something to worry about when they got there.</p><p>After rolling back and forth in bed a few times, Akira gave up on trying to sleep and picked his phone up again. It was good to see Ryuji smiling about moving, and seeming to do so with ease.</p><p>All the metaverse business felt like a dream these days, but he hadn’t seen Ryuji really push himself in this particular way since he’d nearly died in Shido’s palace. The memory felt like a reminder to stop wasting his time. Even if Ryuji was—for some reason—willing to wait, they only had so much time on Earth.</p><p>He flicked to the other photo again, which showed Ryuji’s upper body in profile. He was staring at the ceiling almost unseeingly, clearly concentrating on the weights instead of the camera. He looked as determined as Akira wanted to feel.</p><p>He had been like that once. He could remember that much. But the dullness of returning to a normal life seemed to have scrubbed that part of him out. It was obvious his physical capability had faded, but he hadn’t really been expecting the same thing to happen mentally.</p><p>Akira would just have to make sure Ryuji really did hold him to his real self-imposed deadline. When he was ready to let it be known, that was.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I was wondering whether I should include Akechi in this, but just try and tell me that guy never had Instagram</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ryuji sat down on the narrow shelf in the changing room mostly because he needed a breather from Ann. She was both way too excited about forcing him into a yukata and complaining nonstop about his apparent lack of taste. But anything that was bright enough for him to consider wearing had also been either girly or childish.</p><p>In the end they’d settled on something that looked like autumn had thrown up on it. The base colour was brown, but it at least the print had enough yellow and orange in it to be interesting. The obi was also brown, but apparently the threads of orange through it would show up nice in the sun.</p><p>After a moment Ryuji stood up and took a picture of himself in the changing room mirror. <em>God please tell me you like this, I can’t go back out there with Ann again.</em></p><p>It seemed Akira had remembered what he’d said yesterday because his response came through almost right away. <em>For a while there I thought you’d given up without finding anything. Worth the wait.</em></p><p>Ryuji’s stomach flipped. He smiled to himself. <em>Flatterer.</em></p><p>He turned his attention back to the mirror and tried taking pictures from a few different angles. He didn’t really get what Akira found attractive about this. He felt like a box with puffy sleeves. What was there to look at, his ankles? Neck and collarbones?</p><p>Maybe it did at least make his shoulders look a bit wider…</p><p>He shifted his phone to one side and ran his free thumb down the edge of the outside panel, loosening it off so that a little more of his chest was visible. He found that if he caught the light just right it contrasted with the shadows, making his muscles look a little more defined.</p><p>Ryuji sent another picture to Akira just as Ann yelled at him through the changing screen. “Are you ok in there?”</p><p>“Yeah,” he replied absently as he read Akira’s next message.</p><p><em>Tease</em>.</p><p>Of course that made him want to move beyond teasing immediately. But he really didn’t need Ann getting impatient with him and inadvertently exposing him in public.</p><p><em>Just giving you something to look forward to</em>. Only after he sent it did Ryuji realise he shouldn’t follow through on it. He sighed as he put his phone away. All this stupid plot was going to achieve was him racing up to Akira’s hometown to jump him.</p><p>Ryuji ignored his phone when it buzzed again and instead stepped out of the changing room. Ann’s eyes immediately zeroed in on him and she clapped excitedly.</p><p>“Yes!”</p><p>“Too bad if it’s a ‘no’, Akira already approved.”</p><p>Ann started dramatically. “What did you show him for!? It was supposed to be a surprise!”</p><p>Ryuji rolled his eyes. “Doesn’t it make more sense to make sure he likes the design before we get invested?” Ann looked like she could have a full blown debate about that, so he quickly continued. “If we’re all happy, can we just buy this and go already? The heat is getting to me.” Technically it was true.</p><p>“Are you sure you don’t want to try on anything else?”</p><p>“Yes!” Ryuji answered too quickly, but Ann only laughed. At least she was self-aware.</p><p>Admittedly the yukata was much cooler than his jeans, so he ended up wearing it on his way home as well. After fixing it up so it was on properly again, of course. He looked at his phone and was suddenly glad he was already flushed from the early heatwave.</p><p>
  <em>Please tell me you’re heading straight home.</em>
</p><p><em>Be about ten minutes.</em> Ryuji couldn’t really help being honest to a fault when it came to Akira.</p><p>The trip in the air-conditioned train car passed all too quickly. His phone rang when he was only one stop away from his destination.</p><p>“Ryuji,” Akira said lowly between ragged breaths.</p><p>Ryuji stood up a little too quickly and moved over to the train doors. He held the bag with his other clothes in it in front of him awkwardly. Luckily his place wasn’t too far from the station.</p><p>“I’ve still gotta walk home yet,” he said instead of telling him to cut it out.</p><p>“That’s fine. All you’ve got to do is listen to me.”</p><p>Ryuji hurried off the train before he could make any embarrassing noises and made his way to the station exit as fast as he could. Which unfortunately wasn’t anywhere near his max speed when he was stuck in yukata and geta.</p><p>“Oh yeah?” he asked as he awkwardly fumbled to feed his pass through the ticket gate on his way out.</p><p>Akira hummed lowly, and Ryuji tried to lengthen his stride. He was about ninety percent sure his mother was working both the afternoon and night shift tonight, and for once he hoped he was right.</p><p>“I’m so hard,” Akira said quietly. He groaned quietly, and Ryuji’s imagination had no trouble providing an image of his partner lying on his back with a hand down his pants, head tilted to expose his throat, glasses askew over flushed cheeks.</p><p>“I’d guessed that much,” Ryuji joked as he tried to focus on his building further down the street. He weaved between the people dawdling on the footpath, glad the distance seemed to be closing quickly.</p><p>“Oh? So this is what you were planning all along, was it?”</p><p>Sort of, but not really. At least, things weren’t supposed to escalate this quickly. He sighed in relief when he entered the lobby of his building, and not just because of the air-con. Thankfully an elevator came quickly.</p><p>“Um, kinda?”</p><p>Akira was silent for a long moment. “You don’t sound so sure.” Now he was sounding pretty hesitant himself.</p><p>Ryuji stumbled out of the elevator and into his apartment, glad to see it really was empty. “It’s not that I don’t want to do this. Haru said I can’t,” he blurted as he pressed his back to the door and dropped his bag on the floor.</p><p>This time the silence was even longer. “Could you… explain from the beginning?” he asked, carefully neutral.</p><p>“It’s supposed to be a secret?”</p><p>Akira was good at extending the old mask to his voice, but even Ryuji could tell he was mortified. “Ryuji, I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable, but all you had to do was tell me to get my mind out of the gutter.”</p><p>That was the exact opposite of the problem, but how was he supposed to explain their ridiculous ‘plan’ without sounding insane? And without making the others angry…</p><p>“Can we um, talk about this later?” When there was enough blood circulating for his brain to work properly.</p><p>“Yes, of course. I’m sorry,” Akira said quickly, now sounding normal again.</p><p>Ryuji shook his head helplessly. “Don’t… You didn’t do anything wrong.”</p><p>“Ok, call me later,” Akira replied, not sounding convinced. But he hung up before Ryuji could make another attempt to explain.</p><p>He sighed and rubbed his forehead. He didn’t know how to explain in words. But he knew he had an alternative.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>Akira’s eyes were closed, but for once sleep wasn’t coming easily. It didn’t help that his thoughts kept drifting back to the last selfie Ryuji had sent him. It’d been another nice shot, this time with half the yukata hanging down around his waist like he was in some kind of yakuza movie.</p><p>He didn’t feel great about receiving it, and thinking about it just made him feel worse. He didn’t want Ryuji to feel he had to appease his libido when it sounded like he wasn’t up to it.</p><p>Akira sighed with frustration and blinked his eyes open. Once they’d adjusted to the darkness around him, he nearly fell off his bed. It had been years, but the shine of ethereal light through prison bars felt more like home to him than the old townhouse ever would.</p><p>The odd sensation of being asleep yet wide awake was unmistakeable, so he knew this was no mere dream. But for once he was alone in this place. There was no sign of Igor or Lavenza, in any of her forms. The bars weren’t blocking him from accessing the rest of the room, but he could see the Compendium had been considerately placed in the corner of his cell near the doorway.</p><p>It looked like he had some kind of work to do, but this time he’d have to figure it out for himself.</p><p>Akira had barely flipped the Compendium open when he heard movement outside his cell. He glanced up at the sight of bright orange and yellow, instantly recognising Ryuji. He had his back to him and was staring around the space. Akira didn’t know whether this was some kind of cognition based on the thoughts he’d gone to sleep with, or if he’d somehow made his way back to this place as well.</p><p>“Ryuji?”</p><p>He whipped around, fists clenched and looking ready for a fight, but he quickly relaxed when he saw Akira. Ryuji ran over and wrapped his arms around him, burying his face into his shoulder as he squeezed tight. Akira returned the embrace and they stayed like that for a few seconds before Ryuji backed away just enough to meet his eye.</p><p>“This is more than a dream, isn’t it?”</p><p>“Yeah, I think so,” Akira replied softly, letting his fingers run over the soft material of the yukata. Of course Ann wouldn’t have let him cheap out on it. For a moment he wanted to apologise for insisting.</p><p>“So is this place not part of the metaverse?”</p><p>“Maybe not entirely,” Akira replied, wishing he could give a more straightforward answer. But he didn’t think it was simple in the first place. “It’s… my heart?”</p><p>“Well, if you’re sure,” Ryuji teased as he stopped looking around and returned his attention to him. His eyes travelled down to take in the fact Akira was still wearing his pyjamas before looking down at himself. “Why am I wearing this?”</p><p>Akira felt his face turn pink as he looked away. “That’s probably my fault. I still want to apologise for my behaviour today. But also…”</p><p>“I already said you have nothing to be sorry about,” Ryuji said as he latched onto Akira’s shoulders and shook him a bit. “I couldn’t explain properly at the time, but you didn’t do anything wrong.” One of Ryuji’s hands slid to the back of his neck. “And I like that you think I look good.”</p><p>“Then what’s been going on?” Akira asked quietly, not sure how else to word it when he had no clue what the issue could be.</p><p>Ryuji groaned to himself as he rested his head against Akira’s shoulder. Eventually he seemed to decide to come out with it.</p><p>“The others really miss you too. They seem to think I can convince you to come back to Tokyo by using my ass as a lure or some shit.”</p><p>Akira gave an undignified snort as he tried to hold back his laughter. Somehow he wasn’t surprised. “While it is very nice,” he began as he let one of his hands slide down Ryuji’s back to grope over it, “that seems like a dumb idea.”</p><p>“Tell me about it,” Ryuji muttered as he pressed forward, demonstrating that he was already getting hard. “I mean, it might have worked on <em>me</em>,” he joked.</p><p>“But I, on the other hand, am a consummate gentleman,” Akira teased.</p><p>This time it was Ryuji’s turn to snort. “Shut the fuck up,” he said as he took hold of Akira’s face and pulled him in. Ryuji laughed against his lips softly before kissing his mouth with all his usual enthusiasm.</p><p>Akira smirked before nipping at his bottom lip. He pulled Ryuji in with the hand on his lower back, and lewdly shoved the fingers of his other hand against his crack. Ryuji melted against him with a quiet, helpless moan, letting Akira ravage his mouth with his tongue.</p><p>Akira kissed over his cheek and rested his mouth against Ryuji’s ear. “You’ll just let me do whatever I want to you, won’t you?”</p><p>Ryuji hummed his agreement and pressed into him even more insistently than before.</p><p>“But I want to give you something you want,” Akira replied softly. They both jumped at the sudden flash of blue flame as Akira’s mask appeared on his forehead. He reached up to touch it in confusion, and a familiar burst of energy sang through his fingertips. “So, tell me what you desire.”</p><p>“As long as it’s you, whatever is fine,” Ryuji managed to mumble. “You always make me feel so good. I love you.”</p><p>It was hardly the first time they’d said this to each other, but Akira felt his cheeks redden anyway. “I love you too. But that isn’t an answer to my question,” he said gently.</p><p>Ryuji simply squirmed against him, being no help whatsoever. A feeling abruptly rose in the back of Akira’s mind, and a familiar voice said, <em>I can tell you exactly what he wants, sweetheart.</em></p><p>Of course he knew Succubus’ voice like it was his own. Because in a sense, it was. But he wasn’t sure if unleashing a literal sex demon on his horny boyfriend was a good idea.</p><p>
  <em>I won’t hurt him! What’s yours is mine, after all. I am thou and all that shit.</em>
</p><p>Before he could so much as shake his head at her wording, she’d materialised between them in a flood of blue flames, knocking Ryuji backward. He squawked as he fell back, landing heavily on the bed. “A-Akira?” he asked nervously as Succubus jumped on top of him, straddling his torso.</p><p>“That’s part of me. Don’t worry,” Akira said, knowing he probably sounded worried himself. He crawled onto the bed and sat behind Ryuji, legs stretched out on either side of him.</p><p>“<em>That</em>? How rude!” She indignantly pulled the halter neck of her shirt off over her head and then pulled it down, revealing perky breasts. She leaned forward, putting them in Ryuji’s face and making him sputter.</p><p>“Is this really ok?” he asked, sounding choked up.</p><p>“If you want to. It’s like I said, she’s me, so…”</p><p>Whatever Ryuji’s response was going to be, it was cut off as Succubus shoved one of her breasts against his mouth. Akira felt it viscerally when his tongue ran over her nipple. He shuddered and his legs tightened against Ryuji’s sides.</p><p>“You can feel that, can’t you?” Ryuji muttered. Akira hummed his assent, nodding, and Ryuji’s stiff bleached hair brushed against his chin. “Shit,” he breathed harshly and grabbed the tits in his face with more enthusiasm.</p><p>It felt like he was having an out of body experience, the pleasure coursing through a second body. But his dick still pressed hard against Ryuji’s back, which only seemed to encourage him all the more.</p><p>Succubus suddenly sat back with a giggle. She looked down at Ryuji with an indulgent expression Akira thought he’d probably pulled more than once himself. “I know what Ryuji wants,” she sang as she let her wings stretch above them before sliding back to drop down between his knees.</p><p>She pulled the bottom of his yukata open, paying no mind to how it mussed up the top half beneath the obi. Akira felt Ryuji raise his hips slightly, and then his underwear was being yanked off over his feet. Akira felt the warmth of his erection as his Persona wrapped a hand around it. He pulled the back of Ryuji’s yukata away from his neck so he could mouth along the line of his shoulder.</p><p>Akira felt Ryuji’s breath shudder as Succubus’ mouth closed around him. He vaguely noticed Ryuji’s hands were clenched around his thigh, but he was too busy running his own hands over his partner’s muscular chest and stomach to pay it much mind.</p><p>Still, some part of Akira was glad his own body wasn’t the centre of attention. He looked about average for a guy of his age, but it was obvious he’d softened since his metaverse days.</p><p>“That should do it,” his Persona said softly after she’d released Ryuji’s slick cock and sat up a little higher on her knees. She pressed his length between her breasts and slowly slid up and down.</p><p>“Fuck,” Ryuji whined as he brought an embarrassed hand to his face.</p><p>“This was what you wanted?” Akira asked with a breathless laugh. Ryuji only groaned into his hand.</p><p>Akira pulled it away from his face, holding both his wrists back on either side. Ryuji continued staring at the sight before him near unblinkingly. It was certainly no secret he found the female form desirable.</p><p>“Just say something next time. We can always pay someone to help us,” Akira murmured.</p><p>Ryuji twisted his neck in an attempt to look up at him. “Are you fucking serious?”</p><p>Succubus giggled, bringing Ryuji’s attention back to the erotic sight in front of him. “Nothing turns me on more than seeing you enjoy yourself.”</p><p>“What she said,” Akira mumbled, feeling his face burn at the open admission. But Ryuji’s whimper was well worth it.</p><p>Ryuji’s hips jerked against his Persona, dick sliding between her breasts with more vigour. Akira hummed and pressed his own hips forward as his movement stimulated him as well.</p><p>Ryuji made a small sound of disappointment when Succubus let go of her breasts and leaned back a little. She hummed happily. “Be patient.”</p><p>Akira glanced down and watched her remove one long glove. Her hand reached between her legs as her other pushed one of Ryuji’s to the side. She reached back up to rub what seemed to be her own slick over his entrance, making Ryuji jolt against him.</p><p>“Aren’t you going to give us what we want too?” she teased.</p><p>“A-anything,” Ryuji answered immediately. He whined as her fingers pressed into him, but only opened his legs wider.</p><p>It occurred to Akira, perhaps a little late, that she was preparing him to take his dick. He shuffled back slightly so he could slide his pants and underwear down, but only managed to get them off one leg before Ryuji was pressing back against him.</p><p>“Akira,” Ryuji moaned.</p><p>Akira glanced down when a slick hand stroked more lubricant over his dick, and somehow he knew Succubus was grinning wickedly even if he couldn’t see her. She positioned him so that the next time Ryuji ground down, he pressed inside him.</p><p>Ryuji was tight but surprisingly relaxed given how quickly things had moved along. Akira laid back a little more so Ryuji could straddle him properly, but he still looked uncomfortable. Not seeming to care, Succubus wrapped her tits back around his dick, making him lean back a little more and support himself with one hand on the mattress.</p><p>“Could you make this anymore awkward?” Ryuji muttered, but continued shifting his hips nonetheless. Akira sighed at the delicious grind against and around him. He knew Ryuji’s movement was causing him to thrust into Succubus as well.</p><p>“You’re strong enough to handle it, aren’t you?” she teased.</p><p>Ryuji grunted, but didn’t complain again. He settled into a slow rhythm, and Akira ran his hand over his back muscles as he watched them tense and unclench.</p><p>“You’re amazing,” Akira said quietly as he took hold of Ryuji’s hips, the only part of him that still had any sort of clothing in place.</p><p>Akira thrusted up into him as best he could given their positions. Ryuji moaned in approval as he swapped the hand that was resting against the mattress.</p><p>“I’m gonna…”</p><p>Akira could feel the buzz of his Persona’s excitement. “No,” he muttered as he bumped his foot against her arm.</p><p>“Just a little,” she teased. “He’s always overflowing with it anyway.”</p><p>Akira sighed, but he knew what she knew. She wasn’t wrong. Maybe it’d even help Ryuji feel calm for a little while.</p><p>But Ryuji was too out of it to pay attention to their little exchange. “Shit,” Ryuji moaned as he came, painting Succubus’ breasts and chest.</p><p>She picked up his come on her fingers and happily sucked it into her mouth. Akira felt Ryuji deflate slightly, but he wasn’t done yet. He grabbed Ryuji’s hips and shifted them so they were lying on their sides. His mask reformed on his head, but he didn’t care about that as he pressed Ryuji’s wrists into the mattress and wrapped a possessive leg around him.</p><p>“This ok?”</p><p>“Uh huh,” Ryuji groaned. “Come inside me.”</p><p>Akira had no compunctions with meeting his request as he continued to thrust. After a few moments he buried his face in Ryuji’s shoulder as he stilled. He sighed and finally relaxed his hold on his partner’s wrists.</p><p>Ryuji made a soft sound of amusement as he ran a hand through Akira’s sweaty mop of hair, brushing the edge of his mask. “Well, my plan really isn’t going to work now, is it?”</p><p>Akira laughed against Ryuji’s skin, feeling the way he shuddered in his arms. “Since you’ve been honest and all, I suppose it’s about time I made a proper commitment. If I’m not in Tokyo by the first of January, you have my permission to drag me down there wounded pride and all.”</p><p>Ryuji rolled his eyes. “If you’d just let Haru help you, we wouldn’t be having this problem.”</p><p>“She’s already had enough people trying to get their hands on her bank account, don’t you think?”</p><p>“We <em>all</em> know you’re not remotely like that,” Ryuji protested, weakly smacking his palm against Akira’s bicep. “So stubborn.”</p><p>“But that’s why you love me,” Akira teased.</p><p>“Yeah,” Ryuji replied softly. “Something like that. But don’t you think this is going a bit far?”</p><p>Akira looked down. “I’m sorry. I know this isn’t easy for you either. But I just…” If he couldn’t admit this here, where could he? “I want to be something vaguely resembling the person you said goodbye to all those years ago before I return.”</p><p>The look Ryuji gave him wasn’t exactly pity, but Akira didn’t think he was going to continue arguing the point. “You met me when I was at the lowest point in my damn life, and you still found some reason to stick around. You think I’m just going to ditch you because you feel like shit now?”</p><p>Akira felt his throat constrict with emotion. He’d never thought about it that way, but it made perfect sense. He pressed his forehead against Ryuji again as he took a shaky breath. “I don’t deserve you.”</p><p>“‘Course you do, for better or worse,” Ryuji teased as he scrubbed a hand through his hair again.</p><p>Akira shut his eyes tight. This time, to his disappointment, he felt the change. But somehow he didn’t think his reality was going to be so difficult to face now.</p><hr/><p> </p><p><em>Please tell me that wasn’t some lucid dream. I don’t think I can have that conversation again IRL.</em> Ryuji forced his eyes to stay open as he waited for an answer to his message. He still wasn’t sure whether he’d actually left his bed or not, but he was glad he didn’t have a mess to clean up, for whatever reason.</p><p><em>I heard you loud and clear</em>.</p><p>Ryuji smiled. He hadn’t felt this relaxed in a long time. He lazily looked back down when his phone buzzed again.</p><p>
  <em>But don’t tell the others. I like the photos.</em>
</p><p>Ryuji snorted and let his phone drop from his hand. Considering doing just that was the last thing he thought about before going back to sleep. For real this time.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Something something life finds a way</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Ryuji let Ann bully him into giving her another one of the lollies that were Akira’s hometown’s specialty. He’d probably sent them along with his actual birthday present knowing Ann would hound him for them, which left him with more of the less sweet stuff to have for himself. Real strategic thinker that guy.</p><p>“Ugh, crowded,” Ryuji complained as they waited in the station for Yusuke to show.</p><p>They’d planned to meet up before crashing at the apartment Haru kept Akechi in. For want of better phrasing.</p><p>He always had a good view of the fireworks from his balcony, so they’d be able to get some pictures away from the crowd. Ryuji had taken on the arduous task of exchanging some of Akechi’s books at the second hand shop in an attempt to appease him.</p><p>“What were you expecting?” Ann said with a roll of her eyes as she played with a loose strand of her fancy up do.</p><p>“Ah, there you are,” Yusuke said from behind them, making them both jump. He had what seemed to be a covered canvas under one arm, but Ryuji was too concerned by the way his eyes zeroed in on the pattern on his yukata to ask. “Interesting choice,” he murmured as he grabbed a handful of his sleeve and brought it closer to his face. “But I hate it.”</p><p>“Oh shaddup!” Ryuji complained as he turned to leave the station, yanking his sleeve out of Yusuke’s grip as he went.</p><p>Once they’d exited out onto the street, they had a little more room to move. But Ryuji couldn’t ignore Yusuke’s staring for much longer.</p><p>“What?” he demanded.</p><p>“Aren’t you going to give me some?”</p><p>Ryuji glanced down at the bag of lollies he still had in his hand and sighed as he offered it. Yusuke’s face lit up as he took a couple.</p><p>“Thank you. I will be sure to capture your likeness well.”</p><p>Ryuji raised an eyebrow. “You plannin’ on doing a painting this time?”</p><p>“My camera is terrible at capturing night scenes,” Yusuke said as though it had personally betrayed him. “The best way to get both yourself and the full splendour of the fireworks is for me to speed paint it in the moment, then fix up any details later.”</p><p>“Uh ok, whatever you say.” He wasn’t sure how he was supposed to send a big canvas down to Akira, but maybe coming over to see it was part of their ‘bring him back to Tokyo’ plan.</p><p>It was fun to keep Akira’s plans secret from them, in a way.</p><p>They went up the emergency stairs in an attempt to avoid attracting too much attention. They knew agents still followed them around sometimes, and the last thing they wanted to do was lead them right to their biggest secret.</p><p>Unsurprisingly, it was Makoto who answered the door when they knocked. Ryuji resignedly held out the bag and she accepted one like she hadn’t been about to stare at him mournfully until he’d finally noticed and offered.</p><p>It seemed Akechi had been made to clean up his research materials, but now he was just lying on the couch, feet hanging off the end. Undoubtedly he’d complain about being too tall if someone tried to get him to offer them a seat.</p><p>Ryuji walked over and deposited the bag of books in the gap between his guts and the back of the couch. He glared up at him, but made a poor attempt at looking uninterested when he sat up to look at its contents. Ryuji considered it a win when he paused to read the blurb on the third one he picked up.</p><p>Soon enough most of the ex-Thieves were gathered at one end of the large balcony of Haru’s <em>spare</em> bourgie apartment (he still couldn’t get his head around that). Ann had arranged Ryuji to sit at the other end of it, just opposite the sliding door from the living area. He watched Yusuke set up his canvas and paints, eyes gleaming in a disturbing way.</p><p>Already he was getting to work. “What are you doing man? The fireworks ain’t even started yet.”</p><p>“No, but your general shape won’t change,” Yusuke replied without looking up. “The live reference is more for the lighting than anything.”</p><p>“Oh ok,” Ryuji said with a shrug as he sipped at his drink. Yusuke made a sound of annoyance every time he moved, but it was hot, and he was terrible at staying still at the best of times.</p><p>When the fireworks did finally start, he couldn’t help but glance back at the first few blooms of colour. But he returned to his position when Yusuke glared at him around the canvas.</p><p>Ryuji glanced up when Akechi finally stopped being a recluse and stepped out onto the balcony, presumably to enjoy the fireworks. He glanced at Yusuke’s canvas with mild interest, but then did a double take so fast Ryuji could swear he heard his neck crick.</p><p>His face turned bright red and his drink slipped from between his fingers. Thankfully the cup was plastic, and Yusuke barely noticed the splash against the bottom of his yukata as he continued working furiously.</p><p>“What’s with that reaction?” Ryuji asked, not sure whether he should laugh or not. It was kind of disturbing to see Akechi express anything that strongly when it wasn’t rage and/or bloodlust.</p><p>“You, er, do know what he’s painting, right?” he uncharacteristically choked out, eyes still glued to the canvas.</p><p>Ryuji’s suspicions grew. But <em>that </em>would be totally ridiculous, right? Ryuji was a guy, and Yusuke was…</p><p>Yusuke was a goddamn weirdo no matter what his actual orientation was.</p><p>Ryuji hurried to his feet and Ann got up in concern as well. “Sit down!” Yusuke ordered angrily. “I’m not finished, and we should still have at least another sixty seconds of good reference material!”</p><p>As soon as the other side of the canvas came into view, Ryuji stopped in his tracks and felt his jaw drop. Ann was the first one to react, cackling loudly like the evil witch she was. Having no idea what to do, Ryuji acted on his first instinct. He put a hand over Akechi’s eyes and yelled, “Stop looking!”</p><p>God, he couldn’t believe how spot on Yusuke had painted his dick after only seeing it like twice.</p><p>“I thought the whole point of the yukata was that you were gonna paint it!”</p><p>“Karma! Karma!” Ann cried between tears of mirth. “I love you Yusuke, never change!”</p><p>Yusuke put a hand over his heart and smiled at her widely. “Thank you, Ann. That’s the nicest thing anyone has ever –”</p><p>Ryuji shoved him, which resulted in pushing Akechi as well, who’d been surprisingly fine with the physical contact. Yusuke nearly fell off his stool, but he steadied himself and glared up at him.</p><p>“Your physique holds more beauty than that disgusting pattern ever will!” he proclaimed.</p><p>“It’s a painting! You can change the yukata pattern to whatever the fuck you want!” Ryuji yelled.</p><p>“What’s going on?” Haru asked softly, yet somehow her voice cut through the rest of them.</p><p>Ryuji snatched up the painting before she could see it and backed up against the balcony wall. He held it at arm’s length, not wanting the garment to be ruined by wet paint. Honestly, he wouldn’t be half as embarrassed if it wasn’t so freakishly accurate to what his naked body actually looked like.</p><p>“Yusuke’s making nudie art!” he whined.</p><p>Haru put her hands on her hips and glared down at him, finally making him look somewhat sheepish. “Weren’t you paying attention in the meeting?” she demanded shrilly. “We have to arouse Akira-kun’s interest, not give him free fap material!”</p><p>Ryuji choked, but really he shouldn’t be surprised that was her main concern.</p><p>“But it’s almost finished! What if this is the work that becomes my magnum opus!?”</p><p>Ryuji didn’t know exactly what that meant, but it sounded fancy enough to be related to it appearing in a gallery. “Ain’t no one else gonna see this! So finish it somewhere no weird perverts can look at it over your shoulder!” He glared at Akechi, who only continued looking into space thoughtfully.</p><p>“Oh. You never struck me as being particularly modest,” Yusuke said as he stood up and carefully snatched his canvas back. “Then, now that the fireworks are over, I shall work on it in this corner.”</p><p>Ryuji could see Yusuke was about to turn in such a way that the painting was going to be visible to Akechi again. He seemed to know it too, based on how his gaze was focused on the back of the canvas.</p><p>Ryuji dragged Yusuke’s stool over to the corner and shoved him back into it to avoid another slip. Then he stormed over to Akechi to give him a piece of his mind. “Stop making it weird, ya weirdo!”</p><p>“I assume that’s what you actually look like, based on your reaction,” he deduced smugly. Ryuji stomped on his foot and received another glare.</p><p>“I’ll tell Akira you’re being a freak,” Ryuji warned, but it only seemed to make him look more interested. Hell, Akira had better fucking not turn around and tell him he was into being cuckolded by his ‘rival’.</p><p>But Akechi quickly shook his head and dropped the weird expression. “What I’m trying to say is that the pose could be better.”</p><p>Bullshit.</p><p>Ryuji felt the intensity of Yusuke’s glare from behind them. Clearly he didn’t appreciate the feedback either.</p><p>“Having Takamaki’s advice is fine and all, if you only want to appeal to young women. But that’s not exactly your target audience, is it?”</p><p>“Um, I have to make myself appeal to men too,” Ann interrupted. Now she looked offended as well. Ryuji still didn’t know how one guy could make them all so mad, nor why they still put up with him.</p><p>For Akira’s sake, probably.</p><p>Akechi sighed impatiently. “Yes, straight men. That’s not your demographic either.”</p><p>“Wasn’t yours,” Ann protested.</p><p>“Not explicitly,” Akechi admitted. “But I know what I like.”</p><p>“Oh fuck off. Akira’s basically begging me for more of Yusuke’s photos,” Ryuji said. Well, the particular ones that Yusuke said all had the same ‘vibe’, anyway. And they only seemed to get one or two of those a session.</p><p>…Usually when he was just doing his own thing, and not being posed by Ann.</p><p>“Really?” Ann and Yusuke asked together, and Ryuji remembered why he hadn’t explicitly said that until now. He didn’t want to encourage them any further, especially after tonight’s little event.</p><p>But hell, like he could stop himself from defending his friends. Even if it was over something this dumb.</p><p>“Hmm. Well, all right. The offer’s there if you change your mind,” Akechi added before turning to go back inside.</p><p>“We don’t need him!” Ann exclaimed, and Yusuke nodded along emphatically. But given how engaged he was in his work, Ryuji wasn’t sure if he’d really heard her.</p><hr/><p> </p><p>
  <em>Guess who Yusuke is painting naked right now.</em>
</p><p>Akira blinked down at the message in confusion. He’d briefly checked it on his break, but it wasn’t making any more sense now that he was staring at it in the quietness of his own bedroom.</p><p>He typed with some level of caution, <em>You?</em></p><p>Even though the original message had been sent ages ago, he got a reply almost right away. <em>Right!? What was the point of the yukata?</em></p><p><em>He made you take it off?</em> In front of everyone? If the other photos he’d been sent overnight were indicative of anything…</p><p><em>No!</em> Akira breathed a sigh of relief. <em>He apparently has a photographic memory of my dick though!</em></p><p>Akira brought a hand up to suppress his laughter. He wasn’t sure what Ryuji had been expecting the result of going to bathhouses and onsen with Yusuke so many times over the years was going to be. But he probably hadn’t thought about it that way at the time.</p><p>
  <em>Don’t be mad. You know he means well.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>I might believe that if he hadn’t been painting it where just anyone could see! Should’ve seen the look on Akechi’s face! Fucker couldn’t look away.</em>
</p><p>Akira felt a sharp smirk cross his face. He’d always suspected Akechi had a physical interest in Ryuji, if nothing else.</p><p>
  <em>I’ll be sure to give him shit for it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>Good!</em>
</p><p>Akira snorted, but soon felt a familiar head butt against his elbow. “Akira, go to sleep.”</p><p>“Sorry, Morgana,” he said as he texted a quick goodnight. Morgana spent a lot more time doing his own thing these days, but if he’d deigned to sneak into the house for tonight, Akira wasn’t going to keep him awake for much longer. “Everyone seems to be having fun,” he said, showing the picture Ann had taken from what seemed to be one corner of the balcony. It seemed to be from before Ryuji had discovered what Yusuke was actually creating, given his relaxed expression.</p><p>“We’re going to be there next year, right?” he asked hopefully.</p><p>The guilt started to rise again, but Akira tried to ignore it. He’d offered Morgana plenty of chances to stay in Tokyo with his friends, but he was the one who kept coming back with him.</p><p>“Yeah. Definitely.”</p><p>Morgana happily rubbed up against him before settling down on the corner of the bed that was his. It was probably the first time Akira had given him a strong positive answer to a question like that.</p><p>Now he just had to not mess it up again.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Given how many years they’d known each other, Ryuji had thought he’d already experienced all of Ann’s worst ideas. But apparently that had been a foolish assumption.</p><p>At this rate he was going to be digging sand out of his ass crack for the rest of his life.</p><p>He reached for his phone when it continued buzzing on the coffee table, mainly because his mother was giving him a look of concern from where she was plastered across the armchair on the other side of the room. He muttered something in apology since it was too hot to string a proper sentence together.</p><p>Ryuji’s eyes widened when he saw the messages he’d missed. Ann had been sulking in the group chat about the fact he was chewing her out for her latest ‘great’ idea. To her complaint she’d attached one of the photos they’d snapped of him while they were at the beach.</p><p>He should’ve known attempting to pose on the beach in a red speedo was just going to turn into a never ending nightmare. At least he wasn’t too badly sunburnt.</p><p><em>Ann please, I’m in a public place</em>. Makoto’s message just made him face palm all over again. <em>Besides, Akira can see this.</em></p><p>“Are you ok?” his mother asked from across the room.</p><p>“Yeah, my friends are just idiots.”</p><p>“Ah, so you’re still in like company then?” she teased.</p><p>Ryuji shot a pout in her direction. “Muuum…” She simply laughed and returned her attention to the TV.</p><p>It occurred to Ryuji that he should ask Yusuke what he was doing with the painting he’d made, and that he should remind him not to flash it in public. Or in his home.</p><p>Anywhere, really.</p><p>But as usual, Yusuke’s awkwardness couldn’t be beat. He sent a progress picture of it with a message. <em>It warms my heart to know that my version is so accurate</em>.</p><p>Ryuji dropped his phone on his chest, giving up. At least Yusuke’d had the decency to cast a shadow over his crotch. But <em>everything</em> was still very much visible.</p><p>In fact, the whole painting looked a lot darker than he’d been expecting. The red and green lighting of the fireworks made it kind of eerie, not to mention the way his expression made him look like he was about to wreck someone’s shit.</p><p>Actually, he couldn’t ignore this.</p><p>“I’m gonna go lie down for a bit,” Ryuji said. His mother hummed in acknowledgement, but she didn’t question him. She probably didn’t want to know.</p><p>
  <em>What the fuck Yusuke? We’re supposed to be turning him on, not scaring him away.</em>
</p><p><em>Yusuke!</em> Makoto’s complaint appeared before the artist’s response. <em>Delete this before Akira sees!</em></p><p>Ryuji squinted at Yusuke’s reply when it finally appeared below his own. <em>We’re still talking about Akira, yes? What’s the difference?</em></p><p>Ryuji felt himself flush and was suddenly glad he’d returned to his room. It wasn’t like he was never the dominant party in their encounters, but of the pair of them, Akira was the one with the lower libido. And the last thing Ryuji wanted to do was impose himself on his partner to the point he felt put upon.</p><p>It wasn’t like he’d ever disliked taking Akira’s orders, anyway.</p><p>Maybe what bothered him most, though, was the allusion violence. He’d lived with ‘that guy’ for most of his childhood. He didn’t need to resemble him in any way.</p><p>Ryuji was glad for the distraction from the group chat when he saw he had another message, but he was surprised to see it wasn’t from Akira. After a moment he realised it had come from the device Futaba had locked down for Akechi’s use. But Ryuji was sure she’d neglected to tell him his contact name came up as ‘Pancake Boy’ for everyone else.</p><p>
  <em>You and your friends really are content to take your time with all this. Or are you all just that stupid?</em>
</p><p>Ryuji considered not answering, but in the end his curiosity won out. As the bastard probably knew it would. <em>The second one, apparently. Just spit it out.</em></p><p>
  <em>Getting Kurusu’s attention really isn’t that difficult.</em>
</p><p>Ryuji rolled his eyes. Obviously he wasn’t having trouble with that. But he didn’t want to say so when it seemed Akira wasn’t ready to share his change in plans yet. Still, it wasn’t like Akechi would blab to the others when he spent all his time avoiding them. Probably.</p><p>
  <em>No, it isn’t. He just doesn’t want the others to know about his plans to return until he’s more certain about them.</em>
</p><p>Akechi was silent for a concerning amount of time. Ryuji kept an eye on the group chat to make sure he wasn’t about to go dropping any bombs, but it was still clear when his reply finally came.</p><p>
  <em>You’re really content to just wait around for that? Come see me tomorrow.</em>
</p><p>Ryuji’s eyebrows shot up. An invitation from Mister Ivory Tower himself? If that wasn’t suspicious, he didn’t know what was.</p><p>
  <em>Is this part of your plan to kill me or?</em>
</p><p><em>No, you moron. I’m going to take racy pictures of you that’ll motivate your boyfriend to get off his ass.</em> There was a pause before another message came through. <em>I’m going to touch you for them, but don’t worry, Kurusu already said he’s into it.</em></p><p>‘Don’t worry’?</p><p>
  <em>Fuck you Pancake Boy.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>You’d be lucky indeed if we got that far.</em>
</p><p>God Ryuji hoped he was joking.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>On Akechi fucking Goro’s bed in only his underwear was the last place Ryuji had expected to find himself this time yesterday. And the only reason he’d agreed to any of this was Akira’s confirmation that he was actually into it.</p><p>Even if he didn’t have a clue <em>why</em>.</p><p>“Ok,” Akechi said quietly as he finished fiddling around with the settings for his phone’s camera. He moved closer and held it up to frame Ryuji. “It looks like this is the best we’re going to get in this lighting. Show us your ass.”</p><p>“Don’t start!” Ryuji complained as he smacked his hand against the bed.</p><p>Akechi only smirked and took a photo. Ryuji noticed he had a glove on one hand, but not on the one handling his phone. Ryuji looked at his own when it buzzed and saw Akechi had sent the picture as a message between the two of them and Akira.</p><p>“What the hell are you doing? I’m mad at you, not him!”</p><p>“A bit of aggression never hurt anyone,” he commented, seemingly waiting for Akira’s response before continuing.</p><p>
  <em>Are you really ok with this, Ryuji?</em>
</p><p>Ryuji sighed and typed out a response. <em>Yeah, he’s just being his usual asshole self... Are you?</em></p><p>“What’s wrong? You don’t think Akira finds this part of you attractive as well?” Ryuji glanced away at what felt like an accusation. Akechi reached out and touched his gloved hand to his cheek, not so subtly forcing him to look up again. “As long as you’re not self-destructing or harming others, what does it matter?”</p><p>Ryuji felt there was something more vulnerable in his expression when he looked up in surprise. Akechi took another photo. “You know all about that, don’t ya?”</p><p>He made a sound of amusement before his gloved hand shoved against Ryuji’s chest, pushing him into the mattress. Another picture, then another quick response from Akira.</p><p>“Check it,” Akechi said as he nodded toward Ryuji’s phone.</p><p>
  <em>I’m definitely into this. Want to hear for yourself?</em>
</p><p>Ryuji glanced up at Akechi, who didn’t say anything. He only leaned back and removed his hand from him. It seemed to be Ryuji’s choice. He sighed before dialling and putting it on speaker.</p><p>“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to.”</p><p>Ryuji shook his head as he folded his legs into a cross legged seat. “That’s not really the issue here. I’m just trying to understand why.”</p><p>Akira hummed thoughtfully. “I guess seeing you interact with someone other than me lets me see a side of you I don’t usually,” he replied softly. “It also doesn’t hurt that there’s a threat he can satisfy you better than I can.”</p><p>“Huh?” Ryuji felt his face warm up. Then he burst out laughing. “The hell Akechi? This is what you’re trying to do?” He looked at his gloved hand again and suddenly it all seemed to make more sense.</p><p>Akechi couldn’t go around putting his face in pictures, even if they’d only be shared privately. Who knew what kind of backdoors the app they used had built into it for federal agents to take advantage of? But that was fine when the implication alone seemed to be more than enough to get Akira’s motor going.</p><p>“Ok, ok, give us a minute,” Ryuji said as he hung up again. He tossed his phone further down the bed before turning around on his knees. He adjusted the elastic of his briefs to make sure they were on properly.</p><p>“Did you just somehow get less stupid?” Akechi asked as he took another picture. But Ryuji wasn’t going to get riled up by that again. He just grinned sharply.</p><p>Akechi shoved a finger into the elastic of his underwear and pulled down, exposing him a little. He then slid his fingers up the leg of them and gathered the material to make it obvious his hand was groping his ass.</p><p>“You’re enjoying this way too much,” Ryuji mocked. He got some satisfaction when Akechi’s face turned pink, but of course it didn’t last long.</p><p>“Probably. Though you are the living embodiment of ‘so good even the straight boy wants some’ fantasy.”</p><p>Ryuji snorted. “Seriously? You’re that much of an attention whore that you’d suck my dick in exchange for being told how great you are?”</p><p>For a solid second it was obvious he’d knocked Akechi off balance. But then fingers were sliding against his waistband again and yanking on it hard. Ryuji made an undignified sound he never wanted to mention again when his underwear snapped back against his ass.</p><p>“Fuck! What the fuck is wrong with you!?”</p><p>“There are many theories.” Akechi straightened up and shuffled closer to the bed. “One more should do it,” he added thoughtfully. “Stand up on your knees.”</p><p>Ryuji did so, looking back at him in confusion. Akechi rested one knee on the bed, sliding it between Ryuji’s. He reached around them with his phone, stretching his arm as far as it could go.</p><p>Ryuji could see the top of his head was cut out of the frame, but before he could move too far, Akechi brought his gloved hand to splay across his jaw and neck. Somehow their position looked much lewder than it actually was. But wasn’t that the point of all this?</p><p>Ryuji’s mouth parted slightly as he felt like he even needed to inhale carefully in this position. “That’s perfect,” Akechi said suddenly. He somehow managed to take the photo without dropping his phone. Ryuji supposed he’d probably had a lot of practice.</p><p>Akechi stepped away and Ryuji immediately took his chance to climb off the bed and put the rest of his clothes back on. That had definitely been way too embarrassing. He glanced down at his phone to see Akira had left nothing but a stream of presumably positive curse words in the chat.</p><p>“Well, that was something,” he began awkwardly.</p><p>Akechi made a sound of amusement. “It should do.”</p><p>“Um, hey,” Ryuji continued, waiting until he looked up before continuing. “Don’t tell the others about this, ok? Akira is…” Going through some personal shit, obviously. But revealing his weakness to his ‘rival’ didn’t seem to be appropriate somehow.</p><p>Or maybe it was just unnecessary.</p><p>Akechi shrugged. “As long as he comes back sometime in the near future, I don’t care if the others think it was their own efforts that triggered it.”</p><p>Ryuji found himself smiling slightly. Maybe he wasn’t so bad anymore after all?</p><p>“Besides, now I have blackmail material on you too. A win-win all around.”</p><p>“I take back anything nice I just thought about you, asshole.”</p><p>“How about we save discussion about our assholes for when Kurusu is back?”</p><p>Ryuji made a sound of frustration as he snatched up a pillow off Akechi’s bed. He ditched it at him, but of course he dodged it cleanly, reflexes as sharp as ever it seemed.</p><p>“You’ll have to ask him real fucking nicely.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ryuji barely had time to figure out where he was before Akira’s mouth landed on his. His long fingers scraped through the hair at the nape of his neck and Ryuji shivered. Eventually he managed to put enough millimetres between them to look into Akira’s eyes.</p><p>“Sorry for dragging you here again, and for asking you to… but <em>fuck</em>…” Akira groaned.</p><p>“If you had’ve asked me to buttfuck, there might have been a few more questions,” Ryuji joked, but privately he was pleased by his outburst. Honestly, he could smack his teenaged self for being so concerned about what the average girl seemed to think of him when he’d apparently had both the leader of the Phantom Thieves and a celebrity detective checking him out from afar.</p><p>“So that’s not a ‘no’ then?” Akira teased as he pushed Ryuji so he’d step back into the open cell.</p><p>“Would you stop it already? Why would I want to think about that bastard when you’re right here?” Ryuji said as he turned them around and pushed Akira down onto the narrow bed.</p><p>He climbed on top of him, straddling his stomach, feeling Akira’s ribs expand between his thighs with each shaky breath. Ryuji took hold of his face and bent over to kiss him.</p><p>Akira’s hands wandered across his arms and shoulders, and it was only then that Ryuji fully registered he was still in his pyjamas this time, as well. That was, nothing but the same pair of underwear he’d been wearing earlier, in his impromptu photoshoot. He shivered when possessive hands moved lower.</p><p>Ryuji rose up on his knees a little so he could grab the hem of Akira’s shirt and pull it up. But he paused when Akira’s hands tightened against him and he quickly glanced down with some form of concern in his expression.</p><p>“What’s up?”</p><p>Akira avoided his gaze and seemed to grow embarrassed. “Nothing, don’t worry.”</p><p>“The last time someone told me not to worry I ended up in multiple indecent photos,” Ryuji said lightly as he fiddled with the hem of Akira’s shirt.</p><p>Akira shifted uncomfortably, then sighed. “It’s stupid, really. I just don’t look like I used to, you know?”</p><p>Ryuji rolled his eyes. “It’d be pretty fucking weird if you did. You’ve been in nerd mode instead of hero mode for ages now, right?”</p><p>Akira tangled the fingers of one hand in his hair while he thought. “Not by choice,” he said wryly. “But, um, you still look like you’re in full swing.”</p><p>Ryuji snorted. “Yeah, cos unlike you, I enjoy working out for the sake of it. You look like a perfectly ordinary twenty-year-old, and ain’t nothing wrong with that.”</p><p>Before Akira could protest that notion, Ryuji shoved his shirt up. Akira finally acquiesced and let him pull it off over his head. He tossed it aside before running his hands up his partner’s torso. He leaned in to resume their kiss.</p><p>Akira hummed against him and brought his hands back to Ryuji’s shoulders. Ryuji pressed closer, tensing slightly at the electric feeling that came from pressing skin to so much skin. He slowly shifted to trail his mouth over Akira’s jaw and down his neck, letting his teeth catch slightly here and there.</p><p>“Ryuji,” Akira murmured, tilting his head slightly to encourage him.</p><p>Ryuji enthusiastically took up the invitation, nipping along his collarbones before running his tongue back over all the lightly abused skin. He returned his attention to Akira’s neck as he leaned back a little so his hands could wander again. His fingers caught on a nipple, making Akira gasp.</p><p>“Lucky for me, you still react in the same way,” Ryuji said, amused.</p><p>Akira simply pushed down on his head, making Ryuji laugh against his skin. He shuffled back, letting one knee come to rest between Akira’s legs and the other by his hip. Ryuji flicked his tongue against one of Akira’s nipples and rolled the other between his thumb and forefinger. Akira’s legs squeezed around his as he pushed his hips upward, rubbing himself against Ryuji’s leg.</p><p>“Just stay still,” Ryuji mumbled against him as he pushed Akira’s hips back against the mattress. “Let me take care of you for a change.”</p><p>Akira hummed. “I don’t need to be taken care of.”</p><p>“Sure you do,” Ryuji refuted, letting his hands shift from Akira’s hips back to his chest. “Sometimes, at least. And that’s <em>normal</em>.”</p><p>“But that’s not…” Akira trailed off as he pressed himself into Ryuji’s touch. “That’s not what my role is,” he finished with a small frown, like what he’d just said wasn’t quite what he’d meant. But Ryuji thought he got it anyway.</p><p>“Look, I know you had to put a lot to the side so we could achieve what we did back in our thieving days,” Ryuji said as his hands moved to cup Akira’s face tenderly. “But that’s all done, and you’re still… <em>here</em>. I know I’m not the only one who wants to help you, if you need it.”</p><p>Akira glanced away, seemingly uncomfortable with the topic. But Ryuji just knew it was important to all of this. It had to be why the room had come back to him. Why everyone was banding together stronger than they had in a long time.</p><p>“I think it’s safe to say now might be one of those times. The dumb photos are just a small part of that. It’s like, Yusuke and Ann want to make something that’ll make you feel better. Futaba’s checking up on you all the time. Haru’s concerned enough to bully us into action, not that we really need it, but you know how she can get.”</p><p>Akira let out a quiet sound of amusement at that. Ryuji continued.</p><p>“I think even Makoto feels like something isn’t right, having to be the responsible one among us while not being quite patient enough to lead us to do the same thing. And shit, even Akechi is trying.”</p><p>Ryuji pressed a kiss to Akira’s mouth, making him glance up at him properly again. “And you too, huh?”</p><p>Ryuji smiled. “Of course. Always. I told you we belong alongside each other, right? You don’t have to keep pulling ahead all the time.”</p><p>Akira’s hands slid to Ryuji’s thighs. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something.</p><p>But there was no hurry here.</p><p>“At first I just thought I was tired after everything that had happened,” Akira began quietly. “I thought I’d recover after a little while and be able to continue on as usual. But it’s been three years and that still hasn’t happened.”</p><p>“Yeah, because you haven’t really been resting,” Ryuji said. “You’ve been too busy beating yourself up. I mean, I think it’s safe to say I’ve been there before. But you’re lucky enough that you don’t have to try and do this alone. From what I’ve seen, that’s pretty damn impossible anyway.”</p><p>Akira wrapped his arms around him and pulled him back down into a hug. Ryuji curled up against his chest contentedly, but he didn’t miss the way Akira shifted against his thigh when he leaned forward. Ryuji trailed a hand along the waistband of Akira’s pants, feeling him tense slightly at the finger that brushed his skin.</p><p>“So what, you’re going to show me how you’re going to look after me now?” Akira tried to tease, but he was a little too invested in creating friction to come off that way.</p><p>At that a terrible, possibly evil idea occurred to Ryuji. Maybe Akechi really was rubbing off on—actually, he really didn’t need to finish that thought.</p><p>“I don’t know about that,” Ryuji said casually. “These things are better in reality, you know?”</p><p>“Huh?” Akira looked at him in confusion as he started moving to stand up. “Just where do you think you’re going?”</p><p>To be honest, he had no idea how to leave this place on his own. But something was telling him that didn’t matter. He stood up and took half a step back.</p><p>“Don’t you think it’s better for us to pick this back up when you’re back in Tokyo?” Ryuji teased lightly. He had to play this right so Akira didn’t feel unwanted.</p><p>“Are you actually being serious right now?”</p><p>“I don’t know, Akira. Aren’t you the one always telling me I should practice a little self-restraint sometimes?” He wandered over to the doorway before turning around. “Anyway, I guess you’re just going to have to find out for yourself, huh?”</p><p>Though nothing really changed about him externally, Ryuji could sense he’d just set something on fire. He didn’t <em>think</em> it was going to blow up in his face. At least, not in a bad way.</p><p>“Well then, you’d better hurry up and tell Yusuke and Ann to finish and send off their project. Seems I have an announcement to make.” Ryuji grinned at his words, but Akira wasn’t done yet. “You’d better be prepared for when I get back.”</p><p>“If you think you’re not going to have to work for it, you’ve got another thing coming,” he said confidently.</p><p>Akira looked him over from top to bottom like he was trying to figure out a shadow’s deal. “Fine by me.”</p><p>The next time Ryuji blinked, he was back in his own bed. His hand was on his dick before he could consciously think about it. But he knew Akira was more than likely doing exactly the same thing right now.</p><p>So it didn’t take long.</p>
<hr/><p> </p><p>Ryuji was just starting to nod off when Yusuke suddenly made a loud sound of triumph. He jumped, nearly knocking his drink on the desk in front of him over. Futaba made a noise suspiciously like a hiss as she removed the glass from the vicinity of her hardware.</p><p>It seemed between Yusuke and Ann they didn’t have a computer powerful enough to edit high quality images without giving themselves a headache. And Futaba’s new ultra HD monitor had apparently blown Yusuke’s mind enough to prevent him from editing digital on anything else.</p><p>Not that Ryuji suspected he did that a lot since he’d mostly just been pointing things out to Ann that should be adjusted or colour corrected.</p><p>“It’s complete!” Yusuke proclaimed. “Print it!”</p><p>“I don’t know if I want to look at it,” Futaba said as she turned the printer on. He wasn’t sure where she’d bought it, but it seemed to be capable of printing and trimming the right kind of paper. He was just glad they hadn’t been planning on sending it to a printing business where someone else might be subject to it.</p><p>“It isn’t pornography,” Yusuke said loudly, seemingly offended by the implication.</p><p>“Shhh!” Futaba hushed him as she shot a nervous look over her shoulder. Yusuke was probably loud enough to hear from further down the hallway, where Sojiro’s room was.</p><p>“There actually isn’t anything that bad in it,” Ann said much more quietly as she leaned over to watch the cover print out.</p><p>They’d gone out to take a few final pictures earlier in the afternoon. Ryuji was part of a community group that encouraged kids who didn’t have opportunities or much else good going on in their lives to get into sport and ideally also learn things like social skills and self-discipline. Borrowing one of the starting blocks was something he did often enough for it to not seem weird when he requested it, though he couldn’t help but feel that way given what he was using it for.</p><p>His weird couple months of boot camp in learning to take pictures of himself had led him to believe a front on picture was a bad idea, but Ann had insisted a shot of him in the set position would be great for the cover. And for the back cover they’d managed to catch him mid-stride from the side.</p><p>But of course, shortly after that Ann had dumped the contents of her water bottle over his head and front while telling him it’d be a shame to waste the fact he was wearing a white t-shirt. Once they were done with <em>those</em> pictures he’d made sure to run her down and share the love.</p><p>No way she’d stood a chance of getting away.</p><p>“Yeah, obviously I messaged that kind of shit afterward,” Ryuji admitted. “Glad to know you stopped snooping on us,” he added as he reached out to ruffle Futaba’s hair.</p><p>She dodged him and rolled her chair back. “What!? Haru is going to destroy you!”</p><p>This time it was Yusuke’s turn to shush her. “It’s getting late,” he said primly, like he hadn’t been in danger of waking half the street up a minute ago.</p><p>“No shit!” Futaba said a little more quietly as she spun around on her chair.</p><p>“Don’t rat me out,” Ryuji said as he leaned back in his chair and watched the rest of the pages print. “Imagine how disappointed Akira would be if he came back only to find me with an axe in my back.”</p><p>Futaba sighed like she was being put upon. “Fine, fine… Whatever you’re doing must be working, anyway. He’s been texting me back way more often lately.”</p><p>“Good,” Ryuji said as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees, covering his smile with his clasped hands. He had someone else he needed to thank for helping to push things along in that direction. “You can make more than one of these right?”</p><p>“You want one for yourself, too?” Ann asked as she set up another print job.</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>He really doubted Akira would mind.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>all according to keikaku<br/> - Akechi, probably</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. Chapter 8</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Ryuji leaned against the side of the Teikyu building with his hands in his pockets as he watched the conspicuous black car stop near the retracted bollards. Akira was standing next to him, biting into the ice cream-filled crepe Ann had given him, like the monster he was.</p>
<p>“They trying to say something?” Ryuji asked casually, shifting his wrist in an attempt to make the plastic bag filled with the usual books stop digging in.</p>
<p>“Eating sugar is illegal?” Akira hazarded.</p>
<p>“No, but biting ice cream probably is.”</p>
<p>Akira grinned at him, showing too much teeth. Ryuji sighed happily and rested his head against his shoulder.</p>
<p>“Welcome home, I guess.”</p>
<p>“Only ‘I guess’?” Akira bumped his side gently. “I’m sure they’ll calm down when they realise I’m not here to rally you all into stealing more hearts.”</p>
<p>“You already got the one you wanted, after all,” Ryuji teased as he casually looked down at his phone. The message was from Futaba.</p>
<p>
  <em>Start blending into the crowd now. I’ll be ready to go in a minute or so.</em>
</p>
<p>They pushed away from the wall and started moving toward the crossing. Akira shoved the rest of the crepe in his mouth and scrunched the paper up in his hand. As they joined the crowd waiting for the light to turn green, they took note of the not so inconspicuous people around them in dark suits and darker sunnies.</p>
<p>Ryuji couldn’t help but bounce on his toes a little as the pre-race excitement mounted. The light turned green, but they still hadn’t got the signal. He tried to stay casual for a little longer.</p>
<p>They were nearly halfway across when he felt the message come through. He grabbed Akira’s hand and took off.</p>
<p>Akira laughed breathlessly as he followed Ryuji’s reckless weaving between the oncoming people. They didn’t have time to look back, but Ryuji was pretty sure the metallic sound behind them was one of the bollards slamming up into the back of the car.</p>
<p>Once they were across the road they disappeared into one of the back alleys. They ran through the lobby of the building they’d recently shifted Akechi out of and paused for a few seconds to reverse their jackets. Akira pocketed his glasses before taking hold of Ryuji’s hand again. Lucky they didn’t have too much further to go.</p>
<p>Haru’s car was waiting in the exact spot she’d promised. She opened the door for them with a big smile, and once they’d all piled inside, Makoto floored it.</p>
<p>“This is all a bit exciting,” Haru said between giggles.</p>
<p>Makoto joined the other traffic normally enough. Ryuji hoped that meant they were blending in just fine.</p>
<p>“Is a bit of privacy so much to ask for?” Akira joked as he settled into his seat properly.</p>
<p>“Yeah, apparently it is,” Ryuji said flatly. Honestly, all this had started with the others ignoring his attempts to maintain his.</p>
<p>“It won’t take long to get there from here,” Makoto informed them. “Keep your eyes peeled.”</p>
<p>“Oh! Ann-chan says some agents are banging on the door!” Haru suddenly exclaimed as she looked down at the chat.</p>
<p>When Akira looked alarmed, Ryuji quickly explained. “It’s ok, she’s in his old apartment. She can hold them up with her terrible acting.” Akira still looked concerned. “It’s not like there’d be any benefit to arresting her, even if they did make up an excuse.”</p>
<p>“And she has Mona-chan,” Haru reminded brightly.</p>
<p>Akira nodded and sat back again. It seemed he trusted in Morgana’s claws, at least.</p>
<p>When they arrived at the new building, it still seemed to be safe. Ryuji and Akira were thrown out near the stairwell so the girls could continue driving around for a while, just in case. They rushed inside and up the stairs, then banged on what Ryuji was pretty sure was the right door.</p>
<p>Yusuke was the one to answer it. He smiled widely when he had a clear view of them. “Ah, you’re finally here to witness it properly.”</p>
<p>He was surprisingly tolerant of Ryuji shoving him aside so they could go in and close the door.</p>
<p>“Witness what?” Akira asked as Yusuke locked it behind them.</p>
<p>He turned away, looking pleased with himself. He reached for the cover of a canvas that was propped up on one of the dining chairs and Ryuji suddenly realised what he was about to do.</p>
<p>“Can’t that wait until <em>later</em>?” he muttered as he put himself between Yusuke and his painting.</p>
<p>“Oh? I thought you didn’t want everyone else to see it?”</p>
<p>“There’s someone else here,” Ryuji reminded as he looked over his shoulder at Akechi, who was still folded up on the end of the couch, looking at them over the back of it.</p>
<p>“It’s not anything I haven’t seen before,” he mocked.</p>
<p>But Yusuke wasn’t listening at all.</p>
<p>“Are you going to deprive me of the chance to experience the recipient’s initial reaction!?” Yusuke demanded. “How will my artist’s soul go on without this sustenance?”</p>
<p>Akira stepped forward before Ryuji could yell at him for being an idiot. He turned the canvas so only he could see it, then lifted the cover.</p>
<p>“Thank you Yusuke, it’s perfect,” he said seriously. “And also worryingly accurate,” he added, less so.</p>
<p>“Told ya,” Ryuji muttered. But Yusuke was already gushing about his art process.</p>
<p>Ryuji tuned out and turned his attention to Akechi. He dumped the bag he’d dragged all this way on the seat next to him and got a nod in response. But Akechi’s expression soon turned into a frown when he noticed the unusual cylindrical shape among the books.</p>
<p>“What’d you…?” Akechi began as he reached into the bag and turned the object in his hand.</p>
<p>Ryuji stood over the back of the couch so Yusuke wouldn’t see it and start asking questions. Akechi rolled the elastic band off and let it unfurl. He flicked through a couple of pages before it seemed to dawn on him.</p>
<p>“<em>Oh</em>.”</p>
<p>“Figured I owed you some kind of thanks,” Ryuji admitted. “But don’t worry, Akira said he’s into it,” he added with a wink.</p>
<p>Akechi shoved it back into the bag and made a good attempt at remaining dignified. But it seemed even he couldn’t fully control the way his face heated up.</p>
<p>“I suppose this will do.”</p>
<p>“Well, if you ask real nicely he might even share the ‘bonus content’ with you,” Ryuji added as he turned away.</p>
<p>The others slowly trickled into the apartment in small groups. It seemed, in the end, all of them had managed to lose their pursuers. They’d probably have to leave in the same way throughout the afternoon and evening, assuming the agents were still staking out nearby places.</p>
<p>Akechi was always reclusive when the others were around, but as the day wore on he became even more so. Of course Akira noticed, and he eventually managed to extricate himself from the others long enough to go talk to him.</p>
<p>Before Ryuji could follow, he found himself with a face full of cat. He automatically tried to step away from Morgana, but that wasn’t going to help when he was clinging to the front of his jacket.</p>
<p>“How could I have overlooked this? Akira bringing us back to Tokyo means I have to live with you forever!”</p>
<p>Ryuji rolled his eyes. “What, you’d rather stay here?”</p>
<p>Morgana shot a nervous look over Ryuji’s shoulder. “No!” His claws retracted when Ryuji lifted him up and held him at arm’s length. “Hey, what do you think they’re talking about anyway? It’s hard to make out over everyone else’s noise.”</p>
<p>It was hard to keep a straight face. “I’m sure you don’t want to know,” Ryuji replied as he put Morgana back down on the chair and gave his head a vigorous rub. Morgana flattened his ears at him, but Ryuji was already moving away.</p>
<p>Ryuji crossed the room and was about to drop into the seat next to Akira, but at the last moment his partner put an arm around him and pulled him to sit between his legs instead. It didn’t seem to interrupt what he was in the middle of saying at all.</p>
<p>“It’s fine because, at the end of the day, he’s <em>mine</em>.”</p>
<p>Ryuji tried to ignore the way Akira’s dick was pressing into him as he looked between them. He couldn’t believe they were actually having this conversation essentially in public. It’d better just be a kink thing.</p>
<p>It certainly felt that way.</p>
<p>Akechi just shrugged casually and smirked. “As public enemy number one, my potential bedroom partners are limited to this group. So…” He glanced back at the others. “Essentially, you two. Do you think that matters to me?”</p>
<p>Akira snorted. “You’re so jealous,” he said as he grabbed the hem of Ryuji’s shirt and started lifting it.</p>
<p>Ryuji shoved his hand back down. “Dude! Anyone could look over here!”</p>
<p>Akechi scoffed. “Jealous of what? Being in a relationship with someone who calls you ‘dude’ when you make a move on them?”</p>
<p>“Tch! Something for you to look forward to, <em>man</em>.”</p>
<p>Akechi’s eyebrows shot up, but he didn’t look displeased. “I can’t wait,” he said dryly. “Oh, no. Actually, I can.”</p>
<p>Ryuji raised a fist, but Akira wrapped his arms around him and flopped back into the couch before he could do anything too drastic. “We’re busy tonight, anyway,” he teased. Akechi looked like he’d been expecting them to say as much.</p>
<p>Ryuji guessed he couldn’t be mad about that.</p>
<hr/>
<p> </p>
<p>Akira glanced up when Ryuji brought dinner over to the table. It was simple and healthy, and probably less flavourful than Akira’s usual fare. But he’d done his best.</p>
<p>“Thanks,” Akira said nonchalantly as though he hadn’t been told off for hovering near the kitchen three times in the last half hour. He twirled his chopsticks into a comfortable hold and started eating. Ryuji watched the way his hands moved for a moment before digging in himself.</p>
<p>“No prob.”</p>
<p>Their apartment was still mostly bare, but they had the basics. And with their collective savings it wouldn’t take too long to get a few more things to make life more comfortable.</p>
<p>Ryuji finished his food quickly so he could start the dishes, and start getting things ready for later. Haru had insisted on taking Morgana off their hands for the night, so thankfully there wouldn’t be any background complaining to deal with.</p>
<p>Ryuji turned back to the table, but Akira was already getting to his feet. “Didn’t I just finish telling you to relax?”</p>
<p>“It’s hard to do that when you’re running around doing chores,” Akira admitted. At least he surrendered his bowl when Ryuji snatched it off him. “It was good.”</p>
<p>“Good,” Ryuji muttered.</p>
<p>So, the romantic evening wasn’t going that well so far. But he tried to rally himself. There was still plenty left to his plan.</p>
<p>“Go get on the bed,” he said as he scrubbed the last few dishes clean. He rolled his eyes when he felt Akira’s arms wrap around his middle instead.</p>
<p>“Nope, I’m being clingy today of all days.”</p>
<p>Ryuji put the last of the dishes up to dry before turning around in Akira’s arms, who smiled softly and kissed him. Though he soon stopped when Ryuji let out a muffled protest.</p>
<p>“I know I’m terrible at the romance thing, but I’m damn well going to make you have a good time!” Ryuji pushed Akira away, then turned him around and pushed him in the direction of their room.</p>
<p>Akira laughed softly but went along with it. “I don’t think that’s how it works,” he teased. He stumbled into the room and gave a small sound of surprise when he saw it was a bit different to how he’d left it an hour ago.</p>
<p>The ceiling light was off and the lamps near the bed were on their lowest setting. He’d laid a towel across the bed and put the massage oil on the bedside table so he wouldn’t have to worry about where it was. The lube he’d kept in the bottom drawer, for now.</p>
<p>“All right, strip off and get on the bed.” Only after it’d come out of his mouth did he think there was probably a better way of wording it.</p>
<p>Akira just laughed softly. “You first. I’m shy.”</p>
<p>“Bull fucking shit,” Ryuji said as he rolled his eyes. “You already know I’m like the worst dom ever, so can we just get on with it please?”</p>
<p>“I think you’re cute.”</p>
<p>“You don’t have to rub it in,” Ryuji groaned. “Hurry up.”</p>
<p>Akira folded his arms and tilted his head. “Why don’t you make me?”</p>
<p>Ryuji frowned. Was he trying to provoke him? “I’d’ve thought you wanted to do this too,” he muttered.</p>
<p>“I do, but… Isn’t it more fun this way?”</p>
<p>“You’ve got a real weird idea of fun,” Ryuji replied as he stepped closer. But he knew some part of him agreed.</p>
<p>The closer he got, the more Akira seemed to straighten. His head tilted up somewhat defiantly.</p>
<p>So Ryuji went low when he tackled him onto the bed. He knelt between Akira’s legs, and he wrapped them around him.</p>
<p>“Why’re you getting all impatient now?” Ryuji teased as he felt himself respond to Akira’s obvious arousal. “You’re the one who made <em>me</em> wait, right?”</p>
<p>“Yeah, and now I’ve had enough,” Akira joked as he reached toward him.</p>
<p>Ryuji felt his expression turn into something sharp before he grabbed the hem of Akira’s shirt and yanked it upward. He pulled it over his head, forcing Akira’s arms up. He looked up at Ryuji, far more dishevelled than he had been a minute ago.</p>
<p>Ryuji twisted the shirt around his left fist and planted it in the mattress above Akira’s head. It wouldn’t exactly hold him if he put up a fight, but that wasn’t really the point.</p>
<p>“This what you wanted?”</p>
<p>“You’re getting warmer,” Akira teased in return.</p>
<p>Ryuji hummed thoughtfully before backing off so he could grab Akira’s hip and turn him over onto his front. After giving him a second to adjust his arms, Ryuji pressed back down to restrain him once more. He pressed his semi against Akira’s ass.</p>
<p>“Still getting closer?”</p>
<p>Akira made a soft sound of, well, probably not disagreement based on the way he was pressing back against him as much as he could manage in his awkward position. Ryuji grabbed the waist of his pants and yanked them down as far as he could. Which wasn’t very far at all.</p>
<p>“Now, if you had’ve just done what I said, this would be a whole lot easier.”</p>
<p>Akira lifted his hips minutely in an attempt to help. After a moment Ryuji did manage to pull his bottoms down to mid-thigh. He guessed they were just fortunate that home time for Akira meant trackies time. But there was another problem.</p>
<p>“Are you gonna behave yourself if I get up to go find the lube?”</p>
<p>Akira looked over his shoulder as much as he could and nodded. Ryuji smiled and pressed his lips to a spot behind his ear.</p>
<p>“Then give me a few seconds.”</p>
<p>Ryuji let up and crawled further along the bed so he could reach out for the bottom drawer and retrieve the lube. He put it on the bed next to them for the moment, then reached out to pull Akira’s bottoms off completely. He ran a hand over Akira’s backside and legs.</p>
<p>“You’re so eager for this already.”</p>
<p>“I’ve been amped about it since I bought my shinkansen ticket,” Akira replied softly.</p>
<p>Ryuji picked up the lube, amused by the way Akira’s eyes followed his movement. He took his time coating two of his fingers, then started running them around and over Akira’s entrance. When he made several passes without making any move to enter him, Akira glanced over his shoulder.</p>
<p>“Come on,” he cajoled.</p>
<p>“Ask nicely,” Ryuji shot back. Maybe he was getting used to this role.</p>
<p>“Please,” Akira added, all but pouting back at him.</p>
<p>Ryuji laughed a little before finally doing what he wanted. He pressed in leisurely with one finger, but was able to take it to two soon enough. When Akira eventually started pressing back again he added a third. Ryuji let his finger sink deeper, searching.</p>
<p>A pleased moan told him he was close enough, if not actually quite there.</p>
<p>Akira alternated between pressing himself into the mattress and shifting further down Ryuji’s fingers with each small thrust of his hips. “Ryuji, please,” he murmured.</p>
<p>“Please what?” he teased.</p>
<p>But Akira seemed to be losing some of his renowned patience. “Just fuck me already,” he demanded bluntly.</p>
<p>“Akira, I told you to ask nicely.”</p>
<p>“Make me,” he challenged again. But this time Ryuji thought he was up to it.</p>
<p>Ryuji withdrew his fingers and stood. He let his bottoms drop before resting a knee on the edge of the bed between Akira’s legs. He dribbled some lube over his dick and started stroking himself.</p>
<p>His lack of verbal response seemed to have baffled Akira, who was now staring at him over his shoulder. Ryuji felt the sharpness of his expression return as he slid himself forward, over Akira’s crack but not into him.</p>
<p>“Ryuji,” he complained. He quickly realised that was futile when Ryuji just continued slowly moving back and forth between his ass cheeks, and not in the way he so clearly wanted.</p>
<p>“You know what you need to say.”</p>
<p>But of course Akira was going to be stubborn about this. Ryuji increased his pace and cupped Akira’s ass. Honestly, if it really came down to it, he could probably finish like this. Akira tried to stimulate himself against the mattress, but Ryuji pressed down to hold him in place.</p>
<p>Akira whined, seemingly at the way he was being overpowered. He tucked his face against his arm and finally seemed to give in.</p>
<p>“Please fuck me.”</p>
<p>There was no way Ryuji could say no to that right now. “Ok,” he murmured before pressing inside. With the way Akira was clinging to his dick, it took an embarrassingly short amount of time for Ryuji to reach his peak. But it turned out Akira hadn’t been too far off either.</p>
<p>“Ryuji,” Akira moaned as his fists closed around the bedcovers. He tensed and shuddered before splaying out, boneless. “We should’ve moved the towel,” he muttered after a moment.</p>
<p>“Who fucking cares about that?” Ryuji muttered as he rolled off of him and onto his side. They both decided to shift to lay on the bed properly, then Akira tucked his face against his chest. Ryuji held him close.</p>
<p>“You, probably, in about eight hours,” Akira teased. “That’s your side of the bed now.”</p>
<p>“Gee, thanks,” Ryuji muttered, rolling his eyes. He ran a hand through Akira’s hair fondly. “Anyway, welcome home, properly this time.”</p>
<p>Akira gave a small laugh. “Good to be back.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Any further parts of this series are more than likely explicitly Akira/Goro/Ryuji</p></blockquote></div></div>
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